Detecting atmospheric neutrino oscillations in the ATLAS detector at CERN

Abstract

We discuss the possibility to study oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos in the ATLAS experiment at CERN. Due to the large total detector mass, a significant number of events is expected, and during the shutdown phases of the LHC, reconstruction of these events will be possible with very good energy and angular resolutions, and with charge identification. We argue that 500 live days of neutrino running could be achieved, and that a total of ~160 contained ν_μevents and ~360 upward going muons could be collected during this time. Despite the low statistics, the excellent detector resolution will allow for an unambiguous confirmation of atmospheric neutrino oscillations and for measurements of the leading oscillation parameters. Though our detailed simulations show that the sensitivity of ATLAS is worse than that of dedicated neutrino experiments, we demonstrate that more sophisticated detectors, e.g. at the ILC, could be highly competitive with upcoming superbeam experiments, and might even give indications for the mass hierarchy and for the value of theta-13.

arXiv comment8 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, RevTeX 4; modified treatment of upward going muons, results unchanged; matches published version

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Identifying the Neutrino mass Ordering with INO and NOvA
• On the Bayesian approach to neutrino mass ordering
• Detecting High-Energy Neutrinos from Galactic Supernovae with ATLAS
• Evolution of Neutrino Mass-Mixing Parameters in Matter with Non-Standard Interactions
• A SHIFT of Perspective: Observing Neutrinos at CMS and ATLAS