Abstract
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 3.5sigma statistical significance. The detector angular resolution for downward-going muons is 0.73^{circ }pm 0.14^{circ }. 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.
Highlights
The detection of cosmic neutrinos is a new and unique method to study the Universe
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
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
Summary
The detection of cosmic neutrinos is a new and unique method to study the Universe. The weakly interacting nature of neutrinos makes them a complementary cosmic probe to other messengers such as the electromagnetic radiation, γ -rays, gravitational waves and charged cosmic rays. Due to absorption effects of cosmic rays by the Moon, a deficit in the atmospheric muon event density (expressed as number of events per square degrees) in the direction of the Moon, the so-called Moon shadow, is expected. With this approach, the Moon shadow has been already measured and reported by MACRO [5], SOUDAN [6], L3+Cosmics [7] and by IceCube [8] Collaborations. This work presents the first measurement of ANTARES angular resolution with atmospheric downward-going muons and the detector pointing performance making use of a celestial source for calibrations.
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