Abstract
The ANTARES detector is an undersea neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. The search for point-like neutrino sources is one of the main goals of the ANTARES telescope, requiring a reliable method to evaluate the detector angular resolution and pointing accuracy. This work describes the study of the Sun "shadow" effect with the ANTARES detector. The shadow is the deficit in the atmospheric muon flux in the direction of the Sun caused by the absorption of the primary cosmic rays. This analysis is based on the data collected between 2008 and 2017 by the ANTARES telescope. The observed statistical significance of the Sun shadow detection is $3.7\sigma$, with an estimated angular resolution of $0.59^\circ\pm0.10^\circ$ for downward-going muons. The pointing accuracy is found to be consistent with the expectations and no evidence of systematic pointing shifts is observed.
Highlights
Charged cosmic rays (CRs), γ-rays, and neutrinos represent relevant probes for high-energy astrophysical research
The ANTARES undersea neutrino telescope [1] is primarily designed for the detection of neutrino pointlike sources and both the pointing accuracy and the angular resolution of the detector are important for the evaluation of the telescope performance
The evaluation of the angular resolution of the ANTARES detector is essential since one of the main goals of the telescope is the search for pointlike sources [19,21,22]
Summary
Charged cosmic rays (CRs) (mainly protons), γ-rays, and neutrinos represent relevant probes for high-energy astrophysical research. The interaction of primary CRs in the atmosphere produces secondary downward-going muons that can be detected in the undersea detector. The CRs could be absorbed by the Moon and the Sun leading to a deficit in the atmospheric muon flux in the directions of these celestial bodies. This effect has been observed by several experiments: CYGNUS [2], TIBET [3], BUST [4], CASA [5], MACRO [6], SOUDAN [7], ARGO-YBG [8], HAWC [9], MINOS [10], and IceCube [11]. This work presents the Sun shadow analysis using the ANTARES 2008–2017 data sample, corresponding to a total detector live time of 2925 days.
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