arXiv subjects

The AMANDA collaboration

Publications and source records attributed to The AMANDA collaboration.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2005

Limits to the muon flux from neutralino annihilations in the Sun with the AMANDA detector

A search for an excess of muon-neutrinos from neutralino annihilations in the Sun has been performed with the AMANDA-II neutrino detector using data collected in 143.7 days of live-time in 2001. No excess over the expected atmospheric neutrino background has been observed. An upper limit at 90% confidence level has been obtained on the annihilation rate of captured neutralinos in the Sun, as well as the corresponding muon flux limit at the Earth, both as functions of the neutralino mass in the range 100 GeV-5000 GeV.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1995

On the age vs depth and optical clarity of deep ice at South Pole

The first four strings of phototubes for the AMANDA high-energy neutrino observatory are now frozen in place at a depth of 800 to 1000 m in ice at the South Pole. During the 1995-96 season an additional six strings will be deployed at greater depths. Provided absorption, scattering, and refraction of visible light are sufficiently small, the trajectory of a muon into which a neutrino converts can be determined by using the array of phototubes to measure the arrival times of Čerenkov light emitted by the muon. To help in deciding on the depth for implantation of the six new strings, we discuss models of age vs depth for South Pole ice, we estimate mean free paths for scattering from bubbles and dust as a function of depth, and we assess distortion of light paths due to refraction at crystal boundaries and interfaces between air-hydrate inclusions and normal ice. We conclude that the depth interval 1600 to 1800 m will be suitably transparent for the next six AMANDA strings and, moreover, that the interval 1600 to 2100 m will be suitably transparent for a future 1-km$^3$ observatory except possibly in a region a few tens of meters thick at a depth corresponding to a peak in the dust concentration at 60 kyr BP.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1994

Optical Properties of the South Pole Ice at Depths Between 0.8 and 1 km

The optical properties of the ice at the geographical South Pole have been investigated at depths between 0.8 and 1 kilometers. The absorption and scattering lengths of visible light ($\sim$515 nm) have been measured {\it in situ } using the laser calibration setup of the AMANDA neutrino detector. The ice is intrinsically extremely transparent. The measured absorption length is 59 $\pm$ 3 meters, comparable with the quality of the ultra-pure water used in the IMB and Kamiokande proton-decay and neutrino experiments and more than two times longer than the best value reported for laboratory ice. Due to a residual density of air bubbles at these depths, the trajectories of photons in the medium are randomized. Assuming bubbles are smooth and spherical, the average distance between collisions at 1 km depth is about 25 cm. The measured inverse scattering length on bubbles decreases linearly with increasing depth in the volume of ice investigated.

astro-ph↗