The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located 2.5 km deep in the Mediterranean Sea, operated from 2007 to February 2022. The detector consisted of 12 vertical strings, each 450 meters long, equipped with optical modules to register Cherenkov radiation from high-energy neutrinos.
Researchers analyzed 4,551 days of effective data, equivalent to 12.47 years of operation. This dataset is nearly three times larger than the previous 2007–2012 campaign. The team utilized three reconstruction methods, including machine learning, to process events across different energy ranges.
The study focused on WIMP particles with masses ranging from 35 to 10,000 GeV/c². Scientists performed 10,000 pseudo-experiments to evaluate background noise and ensure statistical accuracy while accounting for neutrino oscillations and absorption within the Sun.
Although no statistically significant neutrino excess was detected, the analysis yielded new upper limits on solar neutrino flux. These results are 2–3 times more stringent than previous ANTARES findings regarding the interaction of WIMP particles with protons.
For spin-dependent interactions at masses above 100 GeV/c², the new constraints are competitive with other experiments and, in certain annihilation scenarios, exceed the limits of direct detection methods. Systematic uncertainties in the study were estimated at approximately 20%.
