Neutrino Tomography of the Earth with ORCA Detector

TL;DR

This study assesses ORCA detector's ability to perform neutrino tomography of Earth's interior, focusing on its sensitivity to density variations in the core and mantle, influenced by neutrino oscillation effects and systematic uncertainties.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of ORCA's potential to measure Earth's internal densities using atmospheric neutrinos, considering various systematic and neutrino mass ordering scenarios.

Findings

ORCA can determine outer core density within ±20% after 10 years in optimal conditions.

Sensitivity to Earth's densities is reduced under inverted neutrino mass ordering.

Systematic uncertainties and neutrino mixing angles significantly affect measurement precision.

Abstract

Using PREM as a reference model for the Earth density distribution we investigate in the present article the sensitivity of the ORCA detector to deviations of the Earth i) outer core (OC) density, ii) inner core (IC) density, iii) total core density, and iv) mantle density, from their respective PREM densities. The analysis is performed by studying the effects of the Earth matter on the oscillations of atmospheric $\nu_{\mu}$, $\nu_e$, $\bar{\nu}_\mu$ and $\bar{\nu}_e$. We present results which, in particular, illustrate the dependence of the ORCA sensitivity to the OC, IC, core and mantle densities on the type of systematic uncertainties used in the analysis, on the value of the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle $\theta_{23}$, on whether the Earth mass constraint is implemented or not, and on the way it is implemented, and on the type - with normal ordering (NO) or inverted ordering (IO) - of the light neutrino mass spectrum. We show, in particular, that in the "most favorable" NO case of implemented Earth mass constraint, "minimal" systematic errors and $\sin^2\theta_{23}=0.58$, ORCA can determine, e.g., the OC (mantle) density at $3\sigma$ C.L. after 10 years of operation with an uncertainty of (-18\%)/+15\% (of (-6\%)/+8\%). In the "most unfavourable" NO case of "conservative" systematic errors and $\sin^2\theta_{23}=0.42$, the uncertainty reads (-43\%)/+39\% ((-17\%/+20\%), while for for $\sin^2\theta_{23} = 0.50$ and 0.58 it is noticeably smaller: (-37)\%/+30\% and (-30\%)/+24\% ((-13\%)/+16\% and (-11\%/+14\%)). We find also that the sensitivity of ORCA to the outer core, core and mantle densities is significantly worse for IO neutrino mass spectrum.