Measurement of the atmospheric muon flux with the ANTARES detector

Abstract

ANTARES is a submarine neutrino telescope deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, at a depth of about 2500 m. It consists of a three-dimensional array of photomultiplier tubes that can detect the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles produced in the interactions of neutrinos with the surrounding medium. Down-going muons produced in atmospheric showers are a physical background to the neutrino detection, and are being studied. In this paper the measurement of the Depth Intensity Relation (DIR) of atmospheric muon flux is presented. The data collected in June and July 2007, when the ANTARES detector was in its 5-line configuration, are used in the analysis. The corresponding livetime is $724 h$. A deconvolution method based on a Bayesian approach was developed, which takes into account detector and reconstruction inefficiencies. Comparison with other experimental results and Monte Carlo expectations are presented and discussed.