Published December 2018 | Version v1
Journal article

The cosmic ray shadow of the Moon observed with the ANTARES neutrino telescope

Creators

  • 1. Universite de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, Strasbourg (France)
  • 2. Technical University of Catalonia, Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics, Vilanova i la Geltru, Barcelona (Spain)
  • 3. INFN, Sezione di Genova, Genova (Italy)
  • 4. Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Erlangen (Germany)
  • 5. Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. C/ Paranimf 1, Institut d'Investigacio per a la Gestio Integrada de les Zones Costaneres (IGIC), Gandia (Spain)
  • 6. Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille (France)
  • 7. APC, Univ Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Obs de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cite, Paris (France)
  • 8. IFIC, Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (CSIC, Universitat de Valencia), Valencia (Spain)
  • 9. LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, Pole de l'Etoile Site de Chateau-Gombert, Marseille (France)
  • 10. National Center for Energy Sciences and Nuclear Techniques, Rabat (Morocco)
  • 11. INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS), Catania (Italy)
  • 12. Universiteit Leiden, Huygens-Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium, Leiden (Netherlands)
  • 13. Science Park, Nikhef, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  • 14. University Mohammed V in Rabat, Faculty of Sciences, 4 av. Ibn Battouta, Rabat (Morocco)
  • 15. Institute of Space Science, Bucharest (Romania)
  • 16. Universiteit van Amsterdam, Instituut voor Hoge-Energie Fysica, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  • 17. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita La Sapienza, Rome (Italy)
  • 18. INFN, Sezione di Roma, Rome (Italy)
  • 19. Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila (Italy)
  • 20. Cadi Ayyad University, LPHEA, Faculty of Science, Semlali, Marrakech (Morocco)
  • 21. INFN, Sezione di Bologna, Bologna (Italy)
  • 22. INFN, Sezione di Bari, Bari (Italy)
  • 23. IFIC, Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (CSIC, Universitat de Valencia) c/ Catedratico Jose Beltran, Valencia (Spain)
  • 24. University of Granada, Department of Computer Architecture and Technology/CITIC, Granada (Spain)
  • 25. Geoazur, UCA, CNRS, IRD, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, Sophia Antipolis (France)
  • 26. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita Genova (Italy)
  • 27. Universite Paris-Sud, Orsay Cedex (France)
  • 28. University Mohammed I, Laboratory of Physics of Matter and Radiations, Oujda (Morocco)
  • 29. Universitaet Wuerzburg, Institut fuer Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Wuerzburg (Germany)
  • 30. Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita Bologna (Italy)
  • 31. Clermont Universite, Universite Blaise Pascal, CNRS/IN2P3, Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire, Clermont-Ferrand (France)
  • 32. LIS, UMR Universite de Toulon, Aix Marseille Universite, CNRS, Toulon (FR)
  • 33. Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and Utrecht University, SZ 't Horntje (Texel) (NL)
  • 34. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris (FR)
  • 35. APC, Univ Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Obs de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cite, Paris (FR)
  • 36. Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte und ECAP, Bamberg (DE)
  • 37. Moscow State University, Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow (RU)
  • 38. INFN, Sezione di Genova, Genova (IT)
  • 39. Universite du Sud Toulon-Var, CNRS-INSU/IRD UM 110, La Garde (FR)
  • 40. Aix-Marseille University, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO), Marseille (FR)
  • 41. INFN, Sezione di Catania, Catania (IT)
  • 42. Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita Bologna (IT)
  • 43. INFN, Sezione di Bologna, Bologna (IT)
  • 44. IRFU, CEA, Universite Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette (FR)
  • 45. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita Pisa (IT)
  • 46. INFN, Sezione di Pisa, Pisa (IT)
  • 47. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita Federico II di Napoli, Napoli (IT)
  • 48. INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Napoli (IT)
  • 49. University of Granada, Dpto. de Fisica Teorica y del Cosmos and C.A.F.P.E., Granada (ES)
  • 50. LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, Pole de l'Etoile Site de Chateau-Gombert, Marseille (FR)
  • 51. Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille (FR)
  • 52. GRPHE, Universite de Haute Alsace - Institut Universitaire de Technologie de Colmar (FR)
  • 53. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita Genova (IT)

Description

One of the main objectives of the ANTARES telescope is the search for point-like neutrino sources. Both the pointing accuracy and the angular resolution of the detector are important in this context and a reliable way to evaluate this performance is needed. In order to measure the pointing accuracy of the detector, one possibility is to study the shadow of the Moon, i.e. the deficit of the atmospheric muon flux from the direction of the Moon induced by the absorption of cosmic rays. Analysing the data taken between 2007 and 2016, the Moon shadow is observed with 3.5σ statistical significance. The detector angular resolution for downward-going muons is 0.73 circle ± 0.14 circle. The resulting pointing performance is consistent with the expectations. An independent check of the telescope pointing accuracy is realised with the data collected by a shower array detector onboard of a ship temporarily moving around the ANTARES location. (orig.)

Availability note (English)

Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-018-6451-3

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
European Physical Journal. C, Particles and Fields (Online)
Journal Volume
78
Journal Issue
12
Journal Page Range
p. 1-9
ISSN
1434-6052