We discuss the possibility to suppress downward atmospheric neutrinos in a high energy neutrino telescope. This can be achieved by vetoing the muon which is produced by the same parent meson decaying in the atmosphere. In principle, atmospheric neutrinos with energies $E_{\nu }>10\mathrm{TeV}$ and a zenith angle up to 60° can be vetoed with an efficiency of $>99\%$. Practical realization will depend on the depth of the neutrino telescope, on the muon veto efficiency, and on the ability to identify downward-moving neutrinos with a good energy estimation.

• Received 14 August 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.043009