Neutrino astronomy and oscillation research in the Mediterranean: ANTARES and KM3NeT

Abstract

Abstract ANTARES , the underwater neutrino telescope in the Northern Hemisphere, has been continuously operating since 2007 in the Mediterranean Sea. The transparency of the water allows for a very good angular resolution in the reconstruction of interactions from neutrinos of all flavours. This results in unprecedented sensitivity for neutrino source searches in the Southern Sky at TeV energies, so that valuable constraints can be set on the origin of the cosmic neutrino flux discovered by the IceCube detector. Building on the successful experience of ANTARES the next generation KM3NeT neutrino telescope is now under construction in the Mediterranean Sea to significantly boost the sensitivity. Two detectors with the same technology but different granularity are under construction at two sites and will focus on high energy cosmic neutrinos (ARCA with Gton instrumented volume, offshore Capo Passero, Italy) and on atmospheric neutrinos at low energies down to a few GeV to address atmospheric neutrino oscillations (ORCA with Mtons instrumented volume, offshore Toulon, France). The basic KM3NeT detection element, the Digital Optical Module (DOM), houses 31 three-inch PMTs inside a 17 inch glass sphere. This multi-PMT concept allows for an accurate measurement of the light intensity (photon counting) and offers directional information with an almost isotropic field of view, at a reduced cost. This contribution will provide an overview on the newest results from ANTARES and an outlook towards the construction plan and exciting science potential of KM3NeT.