Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T17:25:34.795Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Search for Dark Matter with the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2009

H. Motz*
Affiliation:
Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Erwin Rommel Strasse 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Get access

Abstract

ANTARES (Astronomy with a Neutrino Telescope and Abyss environmental RESearch) is the largest neutrino detector currently operating in the Northern hemisphere. The detection principle relies on the observation of Cerenkov light emitted by muons resulting from charged current neutrino interactions in the water surrounding the detector and the seafloor below. The detector, which was completed in May 2008, consists of twelve lines (each housing 75 photomultipliers), placed at a depth of about 2480 meters 40 km off the coast of Toulon, France. The telescope is built to search for astrophysical neutrino point sources and for neutrinos created in self-annihilation of Dark-Matter particles. A likely source of such neutrino emission would be the Sun, where Dark Matter particles are expected to accumulate. Predictions of the neutrino flux originating from the Sun have been made based on the minimal Supergravity (mSugra) model including the effect of neutrino oscillations. Within mSugra the lightest supersymmetric particle, if a neutralino, is a possible candidate for cold Dark Matter. Using the general features of ANTARES in the energy range from 10 GeV to 400 GeV a prediction for exclusion limits for three years of datataking has been calculated.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmed, Z., et al. (CDMS Collaboration) [arXiv:0802.3530] [astro-ph]
Angle, J., et al., 2008 (XENON Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 021303 [arXiv:0706.0039] [astro-ph]
Baltz, E.A., & Gondolo, P., JHEP, 0410, (2004), 052 [arXiv:hep-ph/0407039]
Feldman, G.J., & Cousins, R.D., 1998, Phys. Rev. D, 57, 3873 [arXiv:physics/9711021] CrossRef
Filippini, J., & Gaitskell, R.J. [http://dmtools.berkeley.edu/limitplots/]
Gondolo, P., Edsjo, J., Ullio, P., et al., 2004, JCAP, 0407, 008 [arXiv:astro-ph/0406204] CrossRef
Graham, A.W., Merritt, D., Moore, B., Diemand, J., & Terzic, B., 2006, ApJ, 132, 2685 [arXiv:astro-ph/0509417]
Maltoni, M.T., Schwetz, M.A., Tortola, & Valle, J.W.F., 2004, New J. Phys., 6, 122 [arXiv:hep-ph/0405172] CrossRef
Ohlsson, T., & Snellman, H., 2000, J. Math. Phys., 41, 2768 (Erratum-ibid., 42 (2001), 2345) [arXiv:hep-ph/9910546] CrossRef
Paige, F.E., Protopopescu, S.D., Baer, H., & Tata, X. [arXiv:hep-ph/0312045]
D.N., Spergel, et al. (WMAP Collaboration), 2003, ApJS, 148, 175 [arXiv:astro-ph/0302209]
Wolfenstein, L., 1978, Phys. Rev. D, 17, 2369 CrossRef