Optical properties in deep sea water at the site of the ANTARES detector

摘要

The ANTARES neutrino telescope is located at a depth of 2475 m in the Mediterranean Sea. Its mainobjective is the observation of extraterrestrial neutrinos. Relativistic charged leptons produced by neutrino interactions inand around the detector produce Cherenkov light in the sea water detected by a three dimensional grid of photomultipliertubes. The propagation of Cherenkov light depends on the optical properties of the sea water and their understanding iscrucial to reach the optimal performance of the detector. This paper presents the measurements made between 2008 and2010 of the light velocity and attenuation length at the ANTARES site with a system of light sources (LEDs and laser) atdifferent wavelengths (between 400 nm and 532 nm). The time variability of the optical properties are presented and thederived values are compared with theoretical predictions.