Combining Neutrino Oscillation Experiments with the Feldman-Cousins Method

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to combine multiple neutrino oscillation experiment results using the Feldman-Cousins approach, providing improved confidence limits on key physical parameters.

Contribution

It demonstrates how to effectively combine experimental results to derive joint confidence limits on neutrino oscillation parameters using the Feldman-Cousins method.

Findings

Combined analysis yields best fit values for sin^2 2θ_13 and δ.

Excludes sin^2 2θ_13=0 at 2.7σ and 2.8σ for different hierarchies.

Provides a framework for combining experimental neutrino data.

Abstract

In this article we describe how two or more experimental results can be combined within the procedure of Feldman and Cousins, to provide combined confidence limits on the physical parameters of interest. We demonstrate the technique by combining the recent electron neutrino appearance results from T2K and MINOS. Our best fit point is sin^{2}2\theta_{13} = 0.08 (0.11) and \delta = 1.1 (2.0) \pi; in addition we exclude sin^{2}2\theta_{13}=0 at 2.7 \sigma (2.8 \sigma) for the normal (inverted) neutrino mass hierarchy.