Measurement of the atmospheric νμ energy spectrum from 100 GeV to 200 TeV with the ANTARES telescope

• Published in: The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields Particles and fields, 2013, Vol.73 (10)
• Main Authors: Adrián-Martínez, S., Albert, A., Anghinolfi, M., Anton, G., Anvar, S., Ardid, M., Astraatmadja, T., Aubert, J.-J., Baret, B., Basa, S., Biagi, S., Bigongiari, C., Bogazzi, C., Bouwhuis, M. C., Busto, J., Capone, A., Caramete, L., Cârloganu, C., Carr, J., Cecchini, S., Charif, Z., Charvis, Ph, Classen, F., Core, L., Costantini, H., Coyle, P., Creusot, A., Deschamps, A., De Bonis, G., Decowski, M. P., Distefano, C., Donzaud, C., Dornic, D., Dorosti, Q., Emanuele, U., Enzenhöfer, A., Ernenwein, J.-P., Escoffier, S., Fermani, P., Flaminio, V., Fritsch, U., Gay, P., Geißelsöder, S., Geyer, K., Giordano, V., Gleixner, A., Gómez-González, J. P., Guillard, G., Heijboer, A. J., Herold, B., Hößl, J., de Jong, M., Kadler, M., Kappes, A., Katz, U., Kouchner, A., Lahmann, R., Lambard, E., Larosa, G., Leonora, E., Lo Presti, D., Loehner, H., Loucatos, S., Louis, F., Mangano, S., Martínez-Mora, J. A., Michael, T., Montaruli, T., Motz, H., Nezri, E., Păvălaş, G. E., Perrina, C., Piattelli, P., Popa, V., Pradier, T., Richter, R., Roensch, K., Sanguineti, M., Sapienza, P., Schmid, J., Schnabel, J., Seitz, T., Shanidze, R., Sieger, C., Simeone, F., Spies, A., Spurio, M., Stolarczyk, Th, Sánchez-Losa, A., Taiuti, M., Tayalati, Y., Trovato, A., Vallage, B., Vallée, C., Van Elewyck, V., Wilms, J., Yatkin, K., Yepes, H., Zornoza, J. D., Zúñiga, J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics and Cosmology; Elementary Particles; Hadrons; Heavy Ions; Measurement Science and Instrumentation; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Regular Article - Experimental Physics; String Theory
• ISSN: 1434-6044; 1434-6052
• DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-013-2606-4

Atmospheric neutrinos are produced during cascades initiated by the interaction of primary cosmic rays with air nuclei. In this paper, a measurement of the atmospheric energy spectrum in the energy range 0.1–200 TeV is presented, using data collected by the ANTARES underwater neutrino telescope from 2008 to 2011. Overall, the measured flux is ∼25 % higher than predicted by the conventional neutrino flux, and compatible with the measurements reported in ice. The flux is compatible with a single power-law dependence with spectral index γ meas =3.58±0.12. With the present statistics the contribution of prompt neutrinos cannot be established.