The AMANDA Neutrino Telescope: Science Prospects and Performance at First Light

• Main Author: Francis Halzen
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1997
• Subjects: South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.338.4841; http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9707289v1.pdf

We update the science prospects for the recently completed AMANDA South Pole neutrino detector. With an effective telescope area of order 10 4 m 2 and a threshold of ∼50 GeV, it represents the first instrument of a new generation of high energy neutrino detectors, envisaged over 25 years ago. We describe the instrument and its performance, and map its expansion to a detector of kilometer dimension. 1 A New Astronomy “And the estimate of the primary neutrino flux may be too low, since regions that produce neutrinos abundantly may not reveal themselves in the types of radiation yet detected” Greisen states in his 1960 review[1]. He establishes that the natural scale of a deep underground neutrino detector is 15 m. This dream of neutrino astronomers is the same today. High energy neutrino telescopes are now multi-purpose instruments[2]; their science mission covers particle physics, astrophysics, cosmology and cosmic ray physics. Their deployment creates new opportunities for glaciology and oceanography, possibly geology of the Earth’s core. The experimental techniques are, however, developed with the ultimate goal of deploying kilometer-size instruments. I will first introduce high energy neutrino detectors as