Statistics – Applications
Scientific paper
Jan 1993
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993phdt........46m&link_type=abstract
PhD Dissertation, California Univ. Berkeley, CA United States
Statistics
Applications
Accuracy, Cerenkov Radiation, Neutrinos, Photomultiplier Tubes, Muons, Sea Ice, Radiation Detectors, Antarctic Regions, Monte Carlo Method, Arrays, Applications Programs (Computers), Particle Interactions, Point Sources
Scientific paper
The AMANDA (Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array) is a large area (greater than 10,000 m2), high energy (approximately 1 TeV) neutrino detector whose primary purpose is the identification of astrophysical sources of very high energy neutrinos. AMANDA will consist of 10 vertical strings of downward facing 20 cm photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), located in clear Antarctic ice at 1 km depth. Neutrinos will be detected indirectly via Cerenkov light emitted in ice by muons produced in neutrino interactions below the array. The incident neutrino direction will be determined from the timing and pulse height information in many PMT's. I first review potential astrophysical high energy neutrino point sources. Second, I describe the planned AMANDA array, including detailed descriptions of hardware, electronics, and data acquisition. I then describe experimental results on AMANDA to date. The feasibility of the AMANDA project depends critically upon the optical clarity of Antarctic ice. Measurements of ice transparency at 200 meter depth in Greenland during 1990 and at 800 meter depth at the South Pole during the 1991-92 and 1992-93 austral summers were consistent with the peak optical attenuation length of 25 meters that has been measured in laboratory ice. The South Pole results were inconsistent with the ice containing bubbles or other scattering centers of diameter more than a few microns. Engineering tests performed at the South Pole during the same two seasons demonstrated deployment and reliability, that the dark noise per PMT is approximately 3 kHz, that observation of muons at the single photoelectron level at great depth in ice is possible, and that AMANDA PMT's at 800 meter depth could detect muons in coincidence with the South Pole Air Shower Experiment (SPASE) located at the surface. Finally, I describe a set of Monte Carlo programs designed to determine the performance of the array. The effective area of AMANDA for detecting TeV muons is between 6 x 103 and 104 m2 (depending upon triggering condition) before data cuts designed to eliminate background are applied, and between 4.2 x 103 and 7 x 103 m2 after data cuts are applied. The pointing accuracy of the current array design is 3 deg in zenith angle.
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