The I ceC ube prototype string in A manda

M Ackermann,A Bouchta,P Steffen,T Castermans,J Jacobsen,J Sopher,K.-H Sulanke,Y.-R Wang,B Hughey,S Schlenstedt,R Bay,Ph Olbrechts,R Ganugapati,P Herquet,M Gaug,T Feser,M Kestel,W Chinowsky,E Bernardini,T Harenberg,F Halzen,L Köpke,C Wendt,M Stamatikos,M Krasberg,G Yodh,P Marciniewski,I Taboada,O Botner,X Bai,T Messarius,T Neunhöffer,L Gerhardt,K Hultqvist,A Silvestri,J Lundberg,J Braun,H Geenen,A Karle,P Ekström,L Thollander,A Hallgren,R Porrata,C Pérez De Los Heros,R Wischnewski,M Hellwig,T Deyoung,M Bartelt,H Wissing,K Rawlins,A Groß,S Robbins,D Steele,R Nahnhauer,R Morse,D Chirkin,W Rhode,T Burgess,S Tilav,I Liubarsky,P Miočinović,J Conrad,H Leich,S Richter,K Helbing,P Desiati,T Hauschildt,O Bouhali,C De Clercq,E Resconi,J Ludvig,Y Minaeva,S Böser,A Goldschmidt,R Schwarz,M Ribordy,K Hanson,J Cooley,J Ahrens,M Solarz,C Walck,J Madsen,D Schneider,M Leuthold,S Hundertmark,G Kohnen,M Kowalski,R Hardtke,D Hubert,K Woschnagg,T Becka,P O Hulth ,J Rodrı́guez Martino ,G M Spiczak ,H S Matis ,C H Wiebusch ,J K Becker ,K H Becker ,P B Price ,P Nießen ,Daniel Bertrand ,Anna Davour ,K Münich ,G C Hill ,Michael Walter ,J W Nam ,G T Przybylski ,D F Cowen ,T K Gaisser ,J L Kelley ,C P Burgess ,H G Sander ,A C Pohl ,Wolfgang Wagner ,K Kuêhn ,D R Nygren ,R G Stokstad ,H Öğelman ,Christian Spiering ,C Mcparland ,S W Barwick ,K H Kampert ,D J Boersma

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2005.10.029

Abstract

The Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (A manda) is a high-energy neutrino telescope. It is a lattice of optical modules (OM) installed in the clear ice below the South Pole Station. Each OM contains a photomultiplier tube (PMT) that detects photons of Cherenkov light generated in the ice by muons and electrons. I ceC ube is a cubic-kilometer-sized expansion of A manda currently being built at the South Pole. In I ceC ube the PMT signals are digitized already in the optical modules and transmitted to the surface. A prototype string of 41 OMs equipped with this new all-digital technology was deployed in the A manda array in the year 2000. In this paper we describe the technology and demonstrate that this string serves as a proof of concept for the I ceC ube array. Our investigations show that the OM timing accuracy is 5 ns. Atmospheric muons are detected in excellent agreement with expectations with respect to both angular distribution and absolute rate.

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