An incremental approach to unravel the neutrino mass hierarchy and CP violation with a long-baseline Superbeam for large ${\theta }_{13}$

Abstract

Recent data from long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments have provided new information on θ_{13}, hinting that 0.01\lesssim sin^2 2θ_{13} \lesssim 0.1 at 2 sigma C.L. Confirmation of this result with high significance will have a crucial impact on the optimization of the future long-baseline oscillation experiments designed to probe the neutrino mass ordering and leptonic CP violation. In this context, we expound in detail the physics reach of an experimental setup where neutrinos produced in a conventional wide-band beam facility at CERN are observed in a proposed Giant Liquid Argon detector at the Pyhäsalmi mine, at a distance of 2290 km. This particular setup would have unprecedented sensitivity to the mass ordering and CP violation in the light of large θ_{13}. With a 10 to 20 kt `pilot' detector and just a few years of neutrino beam running, the mass hierarchy could be determined, irrespective of the true values of δ_{CP} and the mass hierarchy, at 3 sigma (5 sigma) C.L. if sin^2 2θ_{13}(true) = 0.05 (0.1). With the same exposure, we start to have 3 sigma sensitivity to CP violation if sin^2 2θ_{13}(true) > 0.05, in particular testing maximally CP-violating scenarios at a high C.L. After optimizing the neutrino and anti-neutrino running fractions, we study the performance of the setup as a function of the exposure, identifying three milestones to have roughly 30%, 50% and 70% coverage in δ_{CP}(true) for 3 sigma CP violation discovery. For comparison, we also study the CERN to Slanic baseline of 1540 km. This work demonstrates that an incremental program, staged in terms of the exposure, can achieve the desired physics goals within a realistically feasible timescale, and produce significant new results at each stage.

30 pages, 32 pdf figures, 6 tables

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Cited by in corpus (21)

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• Getting the best out of T2K and NOvA
• Potential of optimized NOvA for large theta(13) & combined performance with a LArTPC & T2K
• Physics Reach of DUNE with a Light Sterile Neutrino
• Enhancing sensitivity to neutrino parameters at INO combining muon and hadron information
• Comparison of the calorimetric and kinematic methods of neutrino energy reconstruction in disappearance experiments
• Discovery Potential of T2K and NOvA in the Presence of a Light Sterile Neutrino
• On the Bayesian approach to neutrino mass ordering
• The Discovery reach of $CP$ violation in neutrino oscillation with non-standard interaction effects
• Exploring the three flavor effects with future superbeams using liquid argon detectors
• Addressing Neutrino Mixing Models with DUNE and T2HK
• Synergies between neutrino oscillation experiments: An `adequate' configuration for LBNO
• Determination of the ${\theta }_{23}$ octant in LBNO
• Exploring Flavor-Dependent Long-Range Forces in Long-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiments
• Physics potential of neutrino oscillation experiment with a far detector in Oki Island along the T2K baseline
• Probing the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy with Super-Kamiokande
• Physics reach of CERN-based SuperBeam neutrino oscillation experiments
• Optimization of the baseline and the parent muon energy for a low energy neutrino factory
• Determination of mass hierarchy with ${\nu }_{\mu }\to {\nu }_{\tau }$ appearance and the effect of nonstandard interactions
• Future liquid Argon detectors