Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array

AMANDA ( Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array ) is a building under ice " telescope" for the detection of high energy neutrinos. The 1997 operated until May 2009 telescope located at the Amundsen -Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. AMANDA is an international collaboration of institutions from the USA, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and Venezuela.

Construction

AMANDA telescope is not in the traditional sense, but an array (field) of cylindrically arranged strands with signal cables, involving many optical modules ( PMT ) are attached. The optical modules are located at a depth of about 1300-2000 m in the ice.

• AMANDA -B10 (1997): 302 optical modules on 10 strings. Overall dimensions of the cylinder: 500 x 120 m
• AMANDA -II ( 2000): 677 optical modules on 19 strings. Overall dimensions of the cylinder: 500 x 200 m

As a follow-up project applies the finished 18 December 2010 IceCube neutrino detector, which consists of 5160 sensors on 86 strings, and occupies a total volume of 1 km ³.

Neutrino detection

The detection of neutrinos is via the detection of muons emitted by Cherenkov radiation, which result from (rare ) collisions between neutrinos and nuclei in the ice. Due to the detector assembly (optical part of the Cherenkov radiation) can be concluded that the direction of the sunken neutrinos through the collected Cherenkov light.

The detector is also part of the Supernova Early Warning System.