Eur. Phys. J. C 69, 361-378 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-010-1411-6

Search for relativistic magnetic monopoles with the AMANDA-II neutrino telescope

¹ Dept. of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
² Dept. of Subatomic and Radiation Physics, University of Gent, 9000, Gent, Belgium
³ Dept. of Physics, University of Wisconsin, River Falls, WI, 54022, USA
⁴ Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
⁵ Dept. of Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP, UK
⁶ Dept. of Physics, University of Wuppertal, 42119, Wuppertal, Germany
⁷ Bartol Research Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA
⁸ Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
⁹ Dept. of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
¹⁰ DESY, 15735, Zeuthen, Germany
¹¹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
¹² Dept. of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
¹³ Dept. of Astronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
¹⁴ Science Faculty CP230, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
¹⁵ Fakultät für Physik & Astronomie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany
¹⁶ Dept. of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA
¹⁷ Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA
¹⁸ III. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, 52056, Aachen, Germany
¹⁹ Oskar Klein Centre and Dept. of Physics, Stockholm University, SE, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden
²⁰ Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bonn, Nussallee 12, 53115, Bonn, Germany
²¹ Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 75120, Uppsala, Sweden
²² Dept. of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
²³ Dept. of Physics, TU Dortmund University, 44221, Dortmund, Germany
²⁴ Laboratory for High Energy Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
²⁵ Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69177, Heidelberg, Germany
²⁶ Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
²⁷ Dienst ELEM, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
²⁸ Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Utrecht University/SRON, 3584, CC Utrecht, The Netherlands
²⁹ CTSPS, Clark-Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA, 30314, USA
³⁰ Dept. of Physics, Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70813, USA
³¹ Dept. of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
³² Dept. of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G7,
³³ Institute of Physics, University of Mainz, Staudinger Weg 7, 55099, Mainz, Germany
³⁴ Université de Mons, 7000, Mons, Belgium
³⁵ Dept. of Physics, Chiba University, Chiba, 263-8522, Japan
³⁶ Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489, Berlin, Germany
³⁷ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Bari and Sezione INFN, 70126, Bari, Italy
³⁸ Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Dr., Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA
³⁹ Dept. of Physics, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown, 11000, Barbados
⁴⁰ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA
⁴¹ School of Physics and Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
⁴² Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

hwissing@icecube.umd.edu

Received: 23 June 2010
Revised: 22 July 2010
Published online: 28 August 2010

Abstract

We present the search for Cherenkov signatures from relativistic magnetic monopoles in data taken with the AMANDA-II detector, a neutrino telescope deployed in the Antarctic ice cap at the Geographic South Pole. The non-observation of a monopole signal in data collected during the year 2000 improves present experimental limits on the flux of relativistic magnetic monopoles: Our flux limit varies between 3.8×10⁻¹⁷ cm⁻² s⁻¹ sr⁻¹ (for monopoles moving at the vacuum speed of light) and 8.8×10⁻¹⁶ cm⁻² s⁻¹ sr⁻¹ (for monopoles moving at a speed β=v/c=0.76, just above the Cherenkov threshold in ice). These limits apply to monopoles that are energetic enough to penetrate the Earth and enter the detector from below the horizon. The limit obtained for monopoles reaching the detector from above the horizon is less stringent by roughly an order of magnitude, due to the much larger background from down-going atmospheric muons. This looser limit is however valid for a larger class of magnetic monopoles, since the monopoles are not required to pass through the Earth.