Non-standard interactions versus planet-scale neutrino oscillations

TL;DR

This paper explores how a CERN-produced neutrino beam detected by the PINGU detector can enhance the measurement of non-standard neutrino interactions over planet-scale distances, surpassing other experiments in sensitivity.

Contribution

It demonstrates the potential of a CERN-PINGU setup to significantly improve constraints on NSI parameters and detect CP violation, offering advantages over existing and planned experiments.

Findings

Enhanced sensitivity to $ ilde{\epsilon}_{\mu\mu}$ and $\epsilon_{\mu au}$ compared to other experiments.

Most degeneracies in NSI measurements can be resolved with this setup.

Potential to detect CP violation effects induced by NSIs.

Abstract

The low-energy threshold and the large detector size of Precision IceCube Next Generation Upgrade (PINGU) can make the study on neutrino oscillations with a planet-scale baseline possible. In this task, we consider the configuration that neutrinos are produced at CERN and detected in the PINGU detector, as a benchmark. We discuss its sensitivity of measuring the size of non-standard interactions (NSIs) in matter, which can be described by the parameter $\epsilon_{\alpha\beta}$ ($\alpha$ and $\beta$ are flavors of neutrinos). We find that the CERN-PINGU configuration improves $\tilde{\epsilon}_{\mu\mu}\equiv\epsilon_{\mu\mu}-\epsilon_{\tau\tau}$ and $\epsilon_{\mu\tau}$ significantly compared to the next-generation accelerator neutrino experiments. Most of degeneracy problems in the precision measurements can be resolved, except the one for $\tilde{\epsilon}_{\mu\mu}\sim-0.035$. Moreover, we point out that this configuration can also be used to detect the CP violation brought by NSIs. Finally, we compare the physics potential in this configuration to that for DUNE, T2HK and P2O, and find that the CERN-PINGU configuration can significantly improve the sensitivity to NSIs.