ABSTRACT We present a search, using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), for electromagnetic (EM) counterparts to two candidate high-energy neutrino events detected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope ...in 2013 November and 2014 March. These events were selected by ANTARES because they are consistent, within 0 4, with the locations of galaxies within 20 Mpc of Earth. Using MWA archival data at frequencies between 118 and 182 MHz, taken ∼20 days prior to, at the same time as, and up to a year after the neutrino triggers, we look for transient or strongly variable radio sources that are consistent with the neutrino positions. No such counterparts are detected, and we set a 5 upper limit for low-frequency radio emission of ∼1037 erg s−1 for progenitors at 20 Mpc. If the neutrino sources are instead not in nearby galaxies, but originate in binary neutron star coalescences, our limits place the progenitors at z 0.2. While it is possible, due to the high background from atmospheric neutrinos, that neither event is astrophysical, the MWA observations are nevertheless among the first to follow up neutrino candidates in the radio, and illustrate the promise of wide-field instruments like MWA for detecting EM counterparts to such events.
► A method to search for neutrinos from transient sources with ANTARES is presented. ► High energy single neutrinos or low energy multiplets can trigger alerts. ► Alerts are sent within a minute to a ...network of optical telescopes. ► A telescopes network can search for optical counterparts of neutrino alerts. ► ANTARES has a median angular precision of about 0.5 degrees above 10TeV.
The ANTARES telescope has the capability to detect neutrinos produced in astrophysical transient sources. Potential sources include gamma-ray bursts, core collapse supernovae, and flaring active galactic nuclei. To enhance the sensitivity of ANTARES to such sources, a new detection method based on coincident observations of neutrinos and optical signals has been developed. A fast online muon track reconstruction is used to trigger a network of small automatic optical telescopes. Such alerts are generated for special events, such as two or more neutrinos, coincident in time and direction, or single neutrinos of very high energy.
► Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical particles predicted in unified theories. ► Relativistic monopoles could be detected in a neutrino telescope. ► A search for upgoing monopoles has been performed ...using 2008 ANTARES data. ► The obtained flux limits are stronger than limits from other experiments.
Magnetic monopoles are predicted in various unified gauge models and could be produced at intermediate mass scales. Their detection in a neutrino telescope is facilitated by the large amount of light emitted compared to that from muons. This paper reports on a search for upgoing relativistic magnetic monopoles with the ANTARES neutrino telescope using a data set of 116days of live time taken from December 2007 to December 2008. The one observed event is consistent with the expected atmospheric neutrino and muon background, leading to a 90% C.L. upper limit on the monopole flux between 1.3×10−17 and 8.9×10−17cm−2s−1sr−1 for monopoles with velocity β⩾0.625.
Analysis of the Fermi-LAT data has revealed two extended structures above and below the Galactic Centre emitting gamma rays with a hard spectrum, the so-called Fermi bubbles. Hadronic models ...attempting to explain the origin of the Fermi bubbles predict the emission of high-energy neutrinos and gamma rays with similar fluxes. The ANTARES detector, a neutrino telescope located in the Mediterranean Sea, has a good visibility to the Fermi bubble regions. Using data collected from 2008 to 2011 no statistically significant excess of events is observed and therefore upper limits on the neutrino flux in TeV range from the Fermi bubbles are derived for various assumed energy cutoffs of the source.
A novel method to analyse the spatial distribution of neutrino candidates recorded with the ANTARES neutrino telescope is introduced, searching for an excess of neutrinos in a region of arbitrary ...size and shape from any direction in the sky. Techniques originating from the domains of machine learning, pattern recognition and image processing are used to purify the sample of neutrino candidates and for the analysis of the obtained skymap. In contrast to a dedicated search for a specific neutrino emission model, this approach is sensitive to a wide range of possible morphologies of potential sources of high-energy neutrino emission. The application of these methods to ANTARES data yields a large-scale excess with a post-trial significance of 2.5σ. Applied to public data from IceCube in its IC40 configuration, an excess consistent with the results from ANTARES is observed with a post-trial significance of 2.1σ.
The results of the analysis of the data collected with the NEMO Phase-2 tower, deployed at 3500m depth about 80km off-shore Capo Passero (Italy), are presented. Čerenkov photons detected with the ...photomultipliers tubes were used to reconstruct the tracks of atmospheric muons. Their zenith-angle distribution was measured and the results compared with Monte Carlo simulations. An evaluation of the systematic effects due to uncertainties on environmental and detector parameters is also included. The associated depth intensity relation was evaluated and compared with previous measurements and theoretical predictions. With the present analysis, the muon depth intensity relation has been measured up to 13km of water equivalent.
The NEMO Phase-2 tower is the first detector which was operated underwater for more than 1 year at the “record” depth of 3500 m. It was designed and built within the framework of the NEMO (NEutrino ...Mediterranean Observatory) project. The 380 m high tower was successfully installed in March 2013 80 km offshore Capo Passero (Italy). This is the first prototype operated on the site where the Italian node of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope will be built. The installation and operation of the NEMO Phase-2 tower has proven the functionality of the infrastructure and the operability at 3500 m depth. A more than 1 year long monitoring of the deep water characteristics of the site has been also provided. In this paper the infrastructure and the tower structure and instrumentation are described. The results of long term optical background measurements are presented. The rates show stable and low baseline values, compatible with the contribution of
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K light emission, with a small percentage of light bursts due to bioluminescence. All these features confirm the stability and good optical properties of the site.
In the deep sea, the sense of time is dependent on geophysical fluctuations, such as internal tides and atmospheric-related inertial currents, rather than day-night rhythms. Deep-sea neutrino ...telescopes instrumented with light detecting Photo-Multiplier Tubes (PMT) can be used to describe the synchronization of bioluminescent activity of abyssopelagic organisms with hydrodynamic cycles. PMT readings at 8 different depths (from 3069 to 3349 m) of the NEMO Phase 2 prototype, deployed offshore Capo Passero (Sicily) at the KM3NeT-Italia site, were used to characterize rhythmic bioluminescence patterns in June 2013, in response to water mass movements. We found a significant (p < 0.05) 20.5 h periodicity in the bioluminescence signal, corresponding to inertial fluctuations. Waveform and Fourier analyses of PMT data and tower orientation were carried out to identify phases (i.e. the timing of peaks) by subdividing time series on the length of detected inertial periodicity. A phase overlap between rhythms and cycles suggests a mechanical stimulation of bioluminescence, as organisms carried by currents collide with the telescope infrastructure, resulting in the emission of light. A bathymetric shift in PMT phases indicated that organisms travelled in discontinuous deep-sea undular vortices consisting of chains of inertially pulsating mesoscale cyclones/anticyclones, which to date remain poorly known.
This work presents a new search for magnetic monopoles using data taken with the ANTARES neutrino telescope over a period of 10 years (January 2008 to December 2017). Compared to previous ANTARES ...searches, this analysis uses a run-by-run simulation strategy, with a larger exposure as well as a new simulation of magnetic monopoles taking into account the Kasama, Yang and Goldhaber model for their interaction cross-section with matter. No signal compatible with the passage of relativistic magnetic monopoles is observed, and upper limits on the flux of magnetic monopoles with β=v/c≥0.55, are presented. For ultra-relativistic magnetic monopoles the flux limit is ∼7×10−18 cm−2s−1sr−1.
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