Underground muons from the direction of Cygnus X-3

The flux of underground muons from the direction of the binary Cygnus X-3 was measured by the Soudan 2 proton decay detector. This time-projection calorimeter is located at a depth of 2200 m (water equivalent) in northern Minnesota at latitude 48 deg N, longitude 92 deg W. An analysis was then performed that compared both the total observed flux and the observed flux per transit with the number of events expected in the absence of a source. This expected number of events was determined by combining the detector acceptance as a function of time with detector acceptance as a function of the local spatial coordinates. These functions were evaluated by use of off-source events. The direction of Cygnus X-3 was defined as a 2 deg half-angle cone, centered on the nominal source coordinates. This definition is consistent with the expected appearance of a point source in the Soudan 2 detector after consideration of track reconstruction errors, multiple scattering in the rock, and possible systematic effects. Details of the analysis and the results are presented