XXth International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics
M.Kowalski
Search for Neutrino-Induced Cascades with the AMANDA II Detector
The AMANDA II detector has been completed in 2000 and is taking data
since then. In addition to the large sensitivity for high energy muon
neutrinos, AMANDA is also sensitive to electron and tau neutrinos. The
signature of a charged current interaction of electron or tau
neutrinos is a hadronic and/or electro-magnetic cascade. For this
class of events, mainly contained within the geometrical volume of the
array, AMANDA can be thought of as a giant calorimeter. Good energy
resolution, combined with low intrinsic background from atmospheric
electron and tau neutrinos as well as significant sensitivity to all
neutrino directions motivate a search for extraterrestrial high energy
neutrinos.
Here we report the preliminary results of the search for a diffuse
flux of high energy electron and tau neutrinos using the data
collected with the AMANDA II detector during the austral winter
2000. We present effective volumes as a function of neutrino energy
and discuss the sensitivity to extraterrestrial high energy neutrino
fluxes.