Abstract
AMANDA is a high-energy neutrino telescope presently under construction at the geographical South Pole. In the Antarctic summer 1995/96, an array of 80 optical modules (OMs) arranged on 4 strings (AMANDA-B4) was deployed at depths between 1.5 and 2 km. In this paper we describe the design and performance of the AMANDA-B4 prototype, based on data collected between February and November 1996. Monte Carlo simulations of the detector response to down-going atmospheric muon tracks show that the global behavior of the detector is understood. We describe the data analysis method and present first results on atmospheric muon reconstruction and separation of neutrino candidates. The AMANDA array was upgraded with 216 OMs on 6 new strings in 1996/97 (AMANDA-B10), and 122 additional OMs on 3 strings in 1997/98.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-20 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Astroparticle Physics |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2000 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank the Polar Ice Coring Office, PICO, for bore hole drilling, and the Antarctic Support Associates, ASA, as well as the staff of the Amundsen Scott station for support and assistance. We gratefully acknowledge help from the SPASE collaboration, Leeds University, and the U.K. Particle Physics and Astrophysics Research Council.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs and Physics Division, the University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, the Swedish Natural Science Research Council, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden, and the Federal Ministery for Education and Research, Germany. C.P.H. acknowledges the support of the European Commission through TMR contract No. ERBFMBICT91551.