Neutrino Mass Hierarchy, Vacuum Oscillations, and Vanishing U_e3

Abstract

Is the relatively isolated member of the neutrino mass spectrum heavier or lighter than the two closely-spaced members? This question - the character of the neutrino mass hierarchy - is of great theoretical interest. All previously identified experiments for addressing it via neutrino oscillations require that the currently unknown size of the U_e3 element of the leptonic mixing matrix (parameterized by the unknown theta_13 mixing angle) be sufficiently large, and will utterly fail in the limit theta_13=0. For this reason, we explore alternative oscillation approaches that would still succeed even if theta_13 vanishes. We identify several alternatives that require neither a nonzero |U_e3| nor the presence of significant matter effects. All include multiple percent-level neutrino oscillation measurements, usually involving muon-neutrino (or antineutrino) disappearance and very long baselines. We comment on the degree of promise that these alternative approaches show.

arXiv comment15 pages revtex, five eps figures, references and acknowledgments added

References in corpus (23)

• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (in "The Review of Particle Properties" 2004)
• Evidence for Neutrino Oscillations from the Observation of Electron Anti-neutrinos in a Muon Anti-Neutrino Beam
• Status of global fits to neutrino oscillations
• Series expansions for three-flavor neutrino oscillation probabilities in matter
• The LMA MSW Solution of the Solar Neutrino Problem, Inverted Neutrino Mass Hierarchy and Reactor Neutrino Experiments
• Probing the neutrino mass hierarchy and the 13-mixing with supernovae
• Prospects of accelerator and reactor neutrino oscillation experiments for the coming ten years
• The Dark Side of the Solar Neutrino Parameter Space
• Very Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment for Precise Measurements of Mixing Parameters and CP Violating Effects
• Precision Neutrino Oscillation Physics with an Intermediate Baseline Reactor Neutrino Experiment
• Neutrino oscillation physics with a higher $\gamma$ $\beta$-beam
• Resolving parameter degeneracies in long-baseline experiments by atmospheric neutrino data
• Quantization of Fermionic Fields with Two Mass States in the First Order Formalism
• Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations, theta(13) and Neutrino Mass Hierarchy
• Detecting the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy with a Supernova at IceCube
• Physics Reach of the Beta Beam
• A question of hierarchy: matter effects with atmospheric neutrinos and anti-neutrinos
• Untangling CP Violation and the Mass Hierarchy in Long Baseline Experiments
• The Complementarity of Eastern and Western Hemisphere Long-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiments
• Normal vs. Inverted Hierarchy in Type I Seesaw Models
• Neutrinos Have Mass - So What?
• Direct test of the MSW effect by the solar appearance term in beam experiments
• Effective Neutrino Mixing and Oscillations in Dense Matter

Cited by in corpus (68)

• Neutrino Physics with JUNO
• Phenomenology with Massive Neutrinos
• Global analysis of three-flavor neutrino masses and mixings
• A White Paper on keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• Unambiguous Determination of the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy Using Reactor Neutrinos
• Another possible way to determine the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy
• Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)
• A Survey of Lepton Number Violation Via Effective Operators
• Optimization of a neutrino factory oscillation experiment
• Mass Hierarchy Determination via future Atmospheric Neutrino Detectors
• Neutrino mass hierarchy and electron neutrino oscillation parameters with one hundred thousand reactor events
• Systematic uncertainties in long-baseline neutrino oscillations for large ${\theta }_{13}$
• Mass Hierarchy Resolution in Reactor Anti-neutrino Experiments: Parameter Degeneracies and Detector Energy Response
• Physics and optimization of beta-beams: From low to very high gamma
• Theta_13: phenomenology, present status and prospect
• Improved Limit on theta_{13} and Implications for Neutrino Masses in Neutrino-less Double Beta Decay and Cosmology
• Getting the best out of T2K and NOvA
• Neutrino mass hierarchy determination with IceCube-PINGU
• Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations for Earth Tomography
• Identifying the Neutrino mass Ordering with INO and NOvA
• Determination of the neutrino mass ordering by combining PINGU and Daya Bay II
• Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay and Future Neutrino Oscillation Precision Experiments
• A Neutrino Factory for both Large and Small theta_13
• Determination of the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy via the Phase of the Disappearance Oscillation Probability with a Monochromatic \barν_e Source
• Neutrino tomography - Learning about the Earth's interior using the propagation of neutrinos
• Determining Neutrino Mass Hierarchy by Precision Measurements in Electron and Muon Neutrino Disappearance Experiments
• Super-NOvA: a long-baseline neutrino experiment with two off-axis detectors
• Determining the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy and CP Violation in NOvA with a Second Off-Axis Detector
• Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiments
• The mass hierarchy with atmospheric neutrinos at INO
• Neutrino mass hierarchy and precision physics with medium-baseline reactors: Impact of energy-scale and flux-shape uncertainties
• NOvA and T2K: The race for the neutrino mass hierarchy
• Neutrino mass hierarchy determination and other physics potential of medium-baseline reactor neutrino oscillation experiments
• Probing Neutrino Oscillation Parameters using High Power Superbeam from ESS
• Effect of non-zero theta(13) on the measurement of theta(23)
• What would it take to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy if ${\theta }_{13}$ were too small?
• Exploring the Earth matter effect with atmospheric neutrinos in ice
• Pinning down neutrino oscillation parameters in the 2-3 sector with a mgnetised atmospheric neutrino detector: a new study
• Recoilless Resonant Absorption of Monochromatic Neutrino Beam for Measuring Delta m^2_{31} and theta_{13}
• Neutrino hierarchy from CP-blind observables with high density magnetized detectors
• Validating the Earth's Core using Atmospheric Neutrinos with ICAL at INO
• Physics Potential of the Fermilab NuMI beamline
• Predicting Leptonic CP phase by considering deviations in charged lepton and neutrino sectors
• Determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy in the regime of small matter effect
• Synergies between neutrino oscillation experiments: An `adequate' configuration for LBNO
• Locating the Core-Mantle Boundary using Oscillations of Atmospheric Neutrinos
• Enhancing Sensitivity to Non-Standard Neutrino Interactions at INO combining muon and hadron information
• The impact of solar and atmospheric parameter uncertainties on the measurement of ${\theta }_{13}$ and $\delta$
• Matter effects at the T2HK and T2HKK experiments
• Probing Lorentz Invariance Violation with Atmospheric Neutrinos at INO-ICAL
• Combined sensitivity of JUNO and KM3NeT/ORCA to the neutrino mass ordering
• Revisiting the sensitivity studies for leptonic CP violation and mass hierarchy with T2K, NOvA and LBNE experiments
• Exploring Flavor-Dependent Long-Range Forces in Long-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiments
• Mass hierarchy sensitivity of medium baseline reactor neutrino experiments with multiple detectors
• Optimization of the baseline and the parent muon energy for a low energy neutrino factory
• Indirect searches of Galactic diffuse dark matter in INO-MagICAL detector
• On Resolving the Dark LMA Solution at Neutrino Oscillation Experiments
• A new way to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy at reactors
• Minimally Allowed Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Rates From Approximate Flavor Symmetries
• Physics Potential of a 2540 Km Baseline Superbeam Experiment
• Lessons from the first JUNO results
• Mass Hierarchy Determination for ${\theta }_{13}=0$ and Atmospheric Neutrinos
• Potential impact of sub-structure on the resolution of neutrino mass hierarchy at medium-baseline reactor neutrino oscillation experiments
• Improved precision on 2-3 oscillation parameters using the synergy between DUNE and T2HK
• The impact of hierarchy upon the values of neutrino mixing parameters
• Impact of CP violation searches at MOMENT experiment with sterile neutrinos
• Determining neutrino mass hierarchy from electron disappearance at a Low energy neutrino factory
• CP nonconservation in the leptonic sector