The ANTARES telescope neutrino alert system

The ANTARES telescope has the capability to detect neutrinos produced in astrophysical transient sources. Potential sources include gamma-ray bursts, core collapse supernovae, and flaring active galactic nuclei. To enhance the sensitivity of ANTARES to such sources, a new detection method based on coincident observations of neutrinos and optical signals has been developed. A fast online muon track reconstruction is used to trigger a network of small automatic optical telescopes. Such alerts are generated for special events, such as two or more neutrinos, coincident in time and direction, or single neutrinos of very high energy.

► A method to search for neutrinos from transient sources with ANTARES is presented.
► High energy single neutrinos or low energy multiplets can trigger alerts.
► Alerts are sent within a minute to a network of optical telescopes.
► A telescopes network can search for optical counterparts of neutrino alerts.
► ANTARES has a median angular precision of about 0.5 degrees above 10 TeV.