English

Neutrino oscillations: what is magic about the "magic" baseline?

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2007-05-23 v2 High Energy Physics - Experiment

Abstract

Physics interpretation of the ``magic'' baseline, LmagicL_{magic}, that can play important role in future oscillation experiments is given. The ``magic'' baseline coincides with the refraction length, l0l_0. The latter, in turn, approximately equals the oscillation length in matter at high energies. Therefore at the baseline L=l0L = l_0 the oscillation phase is 2π2\pi, and consequently, the ``solar'' amplitude of oscillations driven by θ12\theta_{12} and Δm212\Delta m^2_{21} vanishes. As a result, in the lowest order (i) the interference of amplitudes in the νeνμ\nu_e - \nu_\mu (ντ)(\nu_\tau) transition probability is absent; (ii) dependence of the probability on the CP-phase, δ\delta, as well as on θ12\theta_{12} and Δm212\Delta m^2_{21} disappears. Corrections to the equality Lmagic=l0L_{magic} = l_0 are estimated. Effect of changing density is considered and two new magic trajectories are identified for neutrinos that cross the core of the Earth. Other magic baselines associated with zeros of the atmospheric amplitude are discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-ph/0610198,
  title  = {Neutrino oscillations: what is magic about the "magic" baseline?},
  author = {A. Yu. Smirnov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-ph/0610198},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

LaTeX, 12 pages, no figures; discussions of 1-3 mixing corrections and effects in non-uniform medium are substantially expanded; typos corrected