Atmospheric MUons from PArametric formulas: a fast GEnerator for neutrino telescopes (MUPAGE)

Abstract. Neutrino telescopes are opening new opportunities in observational high energy astrophysics. In these detectors, atmospheric muons from primary cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere play an important role. They provide the most abundant source of events for calibration and for testing the reconstruction algorithms. On the other hand, they represent the major background source. The simulation of a statistically significant number of muons in cubic kilometer neutrino telescopes requires a big effort in terms of computing time. Some parameterizations are currently available, but they do not take into account the arrival of muons in bundles. A fast Monte Carlo generator (MUPAGE) was developed to generate single and multiple atmospheric muon events in underwater/ice neutrino telescopes. The code reduces the computing time for the simulation of atmospheric muons significantly. The event kinematics is produced on the surface of a user-defined cylinder, virtually surrounding the ...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: CPHYSICS
• Authors: G. Carminati, M. Bazzotti, A. Margiotta, M. Spurio
• Keywords: Atmospheric Muons, CPHYSICS 2008, Muon, Primary Cosmic Ray