Speaker
Description
The KM3NeT collaboration is building two large-volume water Cherenkov detectors in the Mediterranean Sea: ORCA, located at 2450 m depth near Toulon, France, and ARCA, at 3500 m depth near Capo Passero, Italy. These detectors use arrays of photomultipliers to detect the Cherenkov light from charged particles produced in neutrino interactions. However, the dominant signal comes from atmospheric muons generated in extensive air showers. The rate of high-energy (>TeV) muons reaching the deep-sea detectors depends on the vertical temperature profile of the atmosphere, which affects the production and decay of mesons in cosmic ray-induced air showers.
In this contribution, we extend a first study by incorporating more data from multiple new detector configurations as the KM3NeT arrays continue to expand. We analyze the correlation between detected muon rates and effective atmospheric temperature including alternative atmospheric data sources, refining our understanding of seasonal and short-term variations. Additionally, we include updated simulations that incorporate environmental modeling and time-dependent detector efficiency. Finally, we explore detector systematic effects in greater depth, quantifying their impact on the measured muon flux variations.
| Collaboration(s) | KM3NeT |
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