Vetoing atmospheric neutrinos in a high energy neutrino telescope

Abstract

We discuss the possibility to suppress downward atmospheric neutrinos in a high energy neutrino telescope. This can be achieved by vetoing the muon which is produced by the same parent meson decaying in the atmosphere. In principle, atmospheric neutrinos with energies ${E}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}>10\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$ and a zenith angle up to 60\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} can be vetoed with an efficiency of $>99%$. Practical realization will depend on the depth of the neutrino telescope, on the muon veto efficiency, and on the ability to identify downward-moving neutrinos with a good energy estimation.