| Summary: | We have simulated the response of a high energy neutrino telescope in deep Antarctic ice to the stream of low energy neutrinos produced by a supernova. The passage of a large flux of MeV-energy neutrinos during a period of seconds will be detected as an excess of single counting rates in all individual optical modules. We update here a previous estimate of the performance of such an instrument taking into account the recent discovery of absorption lengths of several hundred meters for near-UV photons in natural deep ice. The existing AMANDA detector can, even by the most conservative estimates, act as a galactic supernova watch. 1 I. INTRODUCTION Although aspects of the observations of SN1987A [1,2] left some lingering doubts about supernova models [3,4], they provided, in general, remarkable confirmation of established ideas about supernova mechanisms [5]. At collapse, the core of the progenitor star is expected to release energy in a prompt e burst lasting a few milliseco.
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