The Super-Kamiokande Collaboration

Abstract

A total of 614 upward through-going muons of minimum energy 1.6 GeV are observed by Super-Kamiokande during 537 detector live days. The measured muon flux is (1.74 ± 0.07(stat.) ± 0.02(sys.)) × 10 −13 cm −2 s −1 sr −1 compared to an expected flux of (1.97 ± 0.44(theo.)) × 10 −13 cm −2 s −1 sr −1 . The absolute measured flux is in agreement with the prediction within the errors. However, the zenith angle dependence of the observed upward through-going muon flux does not agree with no-oscillation predictions. The observed distortion in shape is consistent with the �µ ↔ �� oscillation hypothesis with sin 2 2� > 0.4 and 1 × 10 −3 < �m 2 < 1 × 10 −1 eV 2 at 90 % confidence level.