Search for a Diffuse Flux of High-Energy Extraterrestrial Neutrinos with the NT200 Neutrino Telescope

Abstract

We present the results of a search for high energy extraterrestrial neutrinos with the Baikal underwater Cherenkov detector NT200, based on data taken in 1998 - 2002. Upper limits on the diffuse fluxes of $ν_e+ν_μ+ν_τ$, predicted by several models of AGN-like neutrino sources, are derived. For an $E^{-2}$ behavior of the neutrino spectrum, our limit is $E^2 Φ_ν(E)<8.1 10^{-7} cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1} GeV$ over an neutrino energy range $2 10^4 - 5 10^7 GeV$. The upper limit on the resonant $\barν_e$ diffuse flux is $Φ_{\barν_e}< 3.3 10^{-20} cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1} GeV^{-1}$.