Probing CP violation in neutrino oscillations with neutrino telescopes

Abstract

Measurements of flavor ratios of astrophysical neutrino fluxes are sensitive to the two yet unknown mixing parameters ${\theta }_{13}$ and $\delta$ through the combination $\sin {\theta }_{13}\cos \delta$. We extend previous studies by considering the possibility that neutrino fluxes from more than a single type of sources will be measured. We point out that, if reactor experiments establish a lower bound on ${\theta }_{13}$, then neutrino telescopes might establish an upper bound on $|\cos \delta |$ that is smaller than one, and by that prove that CP is violated in neutrino oscillations. Such a measurement requires several favorable ingredients to occur: (i) ${\theta }_{13}$ is not far below the present upper bound; (ii) The uncertainties in ${\theta }_{12}$ and ${\theta }_{23}$ are reduced by a factor of about two; (iii) Neutrino fluxes from muon-damped sources are identified, and their flavor ratios measured with accuracy of order 10% or better. For the last condition to be achieved with the planned km^3 detectors, the neutrino flux should be close to the Waxman-Bahcall bound. It motivates neutrino telescopes that are effectively about 10 times larger than IceCube for energies of O(100 TeV), even at the expense of a higher energy threshold.

arXiv comment22 pages, 6 figures; v2: references added

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Theoretically palatable flavor combinations of astrophysical neutrinos
• Probing BSM Neutrino Physics with Flavor and Spectral Distortions: Prospects for Future High-Energy Neutrino Telescopes
• Energy dependent neutrino flavor ratios from cosmic accelerators on the Hillas plot
• The Glashow resonance at IceCube: signatures, event rates and $pp$ vs. $p\gamma$ interactions
• Testing neutrino flavor mixing plus decay with neutrino telescopes
• Implications of Leptonic Unitarity Violation at Neutrino Telescopes
• Flavor Composition of UHE Neutrinos at Source and at Neutrino Telescopes
• An Analysis of Cosmic Neutrinos: Flavor Composition at Source and Neutrino Mixing Parameters
• Inverted Mass Hierarchy from Scaling in the Neutrino Mass Matrix: Low and High Energy Phenomenology
• Neutrino Flavor Goniometry by High Energy Astrophysical Beams
• On Probing theta_{23} in Neutrino Telescopes
• Theoretical Overview of Neutrino Properties
• Diffuse Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Fluxes and Physics Beyond the Standard Model
• A further study of μ-τsymmetry breaking at neutrino telescopes after the Daya Bay and RENO measurements of θ_{13}
• Leptonic CP violation at neutrino telescopes
• Lectures on neutrino phenomenology
• Neutrino Flavor Detection at Neutrino Telescopes and Its Uses
• Neutrinos from Cosmic Accelerators Including Magnetic Field and Flavor Effects