Annual modulation of the atmospheric muon flux measured by the OPERA experiment

Abstract

Abstract The OPERA experiment, designed to search for νμ →ντ oscillations, reached its main goal by observing the appearance of ντ in the CNGS νμ beam. Thanks to its location in the underground Gran Sasso laboratory, under 3800 m.w.e., it has also been exploited as an observatory for TeV muons produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere. In this paper the preliminary measurement of the annual modulation of the atmospheric muon flux with the OPERA detector is reported.