Measurement of neutrino oscillations by means of a high density detector on the atmospheric neutrino beam

TL;DR

This paper proposes a high-density calorimeter experiment to measure atmospheric neutrino oscillations, capable of determining oscillation parameters and identifying the type of neutrino oscillation with high sensitivity.

Contribution

It introduces a novel high-density calorimeter design for atmospheric neutrino detection, enabling precise measurement of oscillation parameters and neutrino flavor identification.

Findings

Sensitive to $ u_0 o u_x$ oscillations with $ ext{m}^2 > 6 imes 10^{-5}$

Can distinguish tau and sterile neutrino oscillations at high energies

Expected to fully cover the oscillation parameter region suggested by Super-Kamiokande

Abstract

A high-density calorimeter, consisting of magnetized iron planes interleaved by RPCs, as tracking and timing devices, is a good candidate for a next generation experiment on atmospheric neutrinos. With 34 kt of mass and in four years of data taking, this experiment will be sensitive to $\nu_\mu \to \nu_x$ oscillation with $\Delta m^2 > 6 \times 10^{-5}$ and mixing near to maximal and fully cover the region of oscillation parameters suggested by Super-Kamiokande results. Moreover, the experimental method will enable to measure the oscillation parameters from the modulation of the L/E spectrum ($\nu_\mu$ disappearance). For $\Delta m^2 > 3 \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$, this experiment can also establish whether the oscillation occurs into a tau or a sterile neutrino, by looking for an excess of muon-less events at high energies produced by upward-going tau neutrinos ($\nu_\tau$ appearance).