Eur. Phys. J. C (2020) 80: 99
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-7629-z

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Dependence of atmospheric muon flux on seawater depth measured with the first KM3NeT detection units

The KM3NeT Collaboration

¹ Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France
² INFN, Sezione di Catania, Via Santa Sofia 64, 95123, Catania, Italy
³ INFN, Sezione di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
⁴ Laboratori d’Aplicacions Bioacústiques, Centre Tecnològic de Vilanova i la Geltrú, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Avda. Rambla Exposició, s/n, 08800, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
⁵ NCSR Demokritos, Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics, Ag. Paraskevi Attikis, 15310, Athens, Greece
⁶ INFN, Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146, Genoa, Italy
⁷ Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Erwin-Rommel-Straße 1, 91058, Erlangen, Germany
⁸ Instituto de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada de las Zonas Costeras, Universitat Politècnica de València, C/ Paranimf, 1, 46730, Gandia, Spain
⁹ APC, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/IRFU, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75205, Paris, France
¹⁰ INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia ed. G, 80126, Naples, Italy
¹¹ Dip. Scienze Fisiche “E. Pancini”, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Via Cintia ed. G, 80126, Naples, Italy
¹² Nikhef, National Institute for Subatomic Physics, PO Box 41882, 1009 DB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
¹³ KVI-CART University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
¹⁴ INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Via S. Sofia 62, 95123, Catania, Italy
¹⁵ INFN, Sezione di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, 56127, Pisa, Italy
¹⁶ Faculty of Sciences, University Mohammed V in Rabat, 4 av. Ibn Battouta, B.P. 1014, R.P. 10000, Rabat, Morocco
¹⁷ Faculty of Sciences, University Mohammed I, BV Mohammed VI, B.P. 717, R.P. 60000, Oujda, Morocco
¹⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Salerno e INFN Gruppo Collegato di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084, Fisciano, Italy
¹⁹ ISS, Atomistilor 409, 077125, Măgurele, Romania
²⁰ Institute of Physics/IHEF, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94216, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
²¹ TNO, Technical Sciences, PO Box 155, 2600 AD, Delft, The Netherlands
²² Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Viale Lincoln 5, 81100, Caserta, Italy
²³ IFIC-Instituto de Física Corpuscular (CSIC-Universitat de València), c/Catedrático José Beltrán, 2, 46980, Paterna, Valencia, Spain
²⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università La Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
²⁵ Physics Department, Faculty of Science Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, Av. My Abdellah, P.O.B. 2390, 40000, Marrakech, Morocco
²⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Catania, Via Santa Sofia 64, 95123, Catania, Italy
²⁷ INFN, LNF, Via Enrico Fermi, 40, 00044, Frascati, Italy
²⁸ INFN, Sezione di Bologna, v.le C. Berti-Pichat, 6/2, 40127, Bologna, Italy
²⁹ INFN, Sezione di Bari, Via Amendola 173, 70126, Bari, Italy
³⁰ Subatech, IMT Atlantique, IN2P3-CNRS, 4 Rue Alfred Kastler-La Chantrerie, BP 20722, 44307, Nantes, France
³¹ University of Bari, Via Amendola 173, 70126, Bari, Italy
³² Department of Computer Architecture and Technology/CITIC, University of Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain
³³ Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146, Genoa, Italy
³⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, v.le C. Berti-Pichat, 6/2, 40127, Bologna, Italy
³⁵ University Würzburg, Emil-Fischer-Straße 31, 97074, Würzburg, Germany
³⁶ School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
³⁷ Università di Pisa, DIMNP, Via Diotisalvi 2, 56122, Pisa, Italy
³⁸ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC, 23 Rue du Loess, 67037, Strasbourg, France
³⁹ NIOZ (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) and Utrecht University, PO Box 59, Den Burg, 1790 AB, Texel, The Netherlands
⁴⁰ Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia
⁴¹ National Centre for Nuclear Research, 00-681, Warsaw, Poland
⁴² Institut Universitaire de France, 1 Rue Descartes, 75005, Paris, France
⁴³ Dpto. de Física Teórica y del Cosmos & C.A.F.P.E., University of Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain
⁴⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, 56127, Pisa, Italy
⁴⁵ Department Physics, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa
⁴⁶ Department of Physics, Tbilisi State University, 3, Chavchavadze Ave., 0179, Tbilisi, Georgia
⁴⁷ Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Sand 1, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
⁴⁸ Leiden Institute of Physics, Leiden University, PO Box 9504, 2300 RA, Leiden, Netherlands
⁴⁹ Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Remeis Sternwarte, Sternwartstraße 7, 96049, Bamberg, Germany
⁵⁰ Gran Sasso Science Institute, GSSI, Viale Francesco Crispi 7, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
⁵¹ University of Münster, Institut für Kernphysik, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 9, 48149, Münster, Germany
⁵² Department of Physics and Astronomy, Utrecht University, PO Box 80000, 3508 TA, Utrecht, The Netherlands
⁵³ Accademia Navale di Livorno, Viale Italia 72, 57100, Leghorn, Italy
⁵⁴ INFN, CNAF, v.le C. Berti-Pichat, 6/2, 40127, Bologna, Italy

^* e-mail: simone.biagi@infn.it
^** e-mail: lincetto@cppm.in2p3.fr
^*** e-mail: kmelis@nikhef.nl

Received: 7 June 2019
Accepted: 8 January 2020
Published online: 6 February 2020

Abstract

KM3NeT is a research infrastructure located in the Mediterranean Sea, that will consist of two deep-sea Cherenkov neutrino detectors. With one detector (ARCA), the KM3NeT Collaboration aims at identifying and studying TeV–PeV astrophysical neutrino sources. With the other detector (ORCA), the neutrino mass ordering will be determined by studying GeV-scale atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The first KM3NeT detection units were deployed at the Italian and French sites between 2015 and 2017. In this paper, a description of the detector is presented, together with a summary of the procedures used to calibrate the detector in-situ. Finally, the measurement of the atmospheric muon flux between 2232–3386 m seawater depth is obtained.