Neutrino factory in stages: Low energy, high energy, off-axis

Abstract

We discuss neutrino oscillation physics with a neutrino factory in stages, including the possibility of upgrading the muon energy within the same program. We point out that a detector designed for the low energy neutrino factory may be used off-axis in a high energy neutrino factory beam. We include the re-optimization of the experiment depending on the value of theta_13 found. As upgrade options, we consider muon energy, additional baselines, a detector mass upgrade, an off-axis detector, and the platinum (muon to electron neutrino) channels. In addition, we test the impact of Daya Bay data on the optimization. We find that for large theta_13 (theta_13 discovered by the next generation of experiments), a low energy neutrino factory might be the most plausible minimal version to test the unknown parameters. However, if a higher muon energy is needed for new physics searches, a high energy version including an off-axis detector may be an interesting alternative. For small theta_13 (theta_13 not discovered by the next generation), a plausible program could start with a low energy neutrino factory, followed by energy upgrade, and then baseline or detector mass upgrade, depending on the outcome of the earlier phases.

23 pages, 10 (color) figures. Minor clarifications and changes. Final version to appear in PRD

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Cited by in corpus (11)

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• Systematic uncertainties in long-baseline neutrino oscillations for large ${\theta }_{13}$
• Optimization of neutrino oscillation facilities for large θ_{13}
• Sterile neutrinos beyond LSND at the Neutrino Factory
• Optimization of the Neutrino Factory, revisited
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