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Precision Neutrino Oscillation Physics with an Intermediate Baseline Reactor Neutrino Experiment

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2011-02-11 v1 Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Experiment Nuclear Experiment

Abstract

We discuss the physics potential of intermediate L20÷30L \sim 20 \div 30 km baseline experiments at reactor facilities, assuming that the solar neutrino oscillation parameters Δm2\Delta m^2_{\odot} and θ\theta_{\odot} lie in the high-LMA solution region. We show that such an intermediate baseline reactor experiment can determine both Δm2\Delta m^2_{\odot} and θ\theta_{\odot} with a remarkably high precision. We perform also a detailed study of the sensitivity of the indicated experiment to Δmatm2\Delta m^2_{\rm atm}, which drives the dominant atmospheric νμ\nu_{\mu} (νˉμ\bar{\nu}_{\mu}) oscillations, and to θ\theta - the neutrino mixing angle limited by the data from the CHOOZ and Palo Verde experiments. We find that this experiment can improve the bounds on sin2θ\sin^2\theta. If the value of sin2θ\sin^2\theta is large enough, sin2θ\gtap0.02\sin^2\theta \gtap 0.02, the energy resolution of the detector is sufficiently good and if the statistics is relatively high, it can determine with extremely high precision the value of Δmatm2\Delta m^2_{\rm atm}. We also explore the potential of the intermediate baseline reactor neutrino experiment for determining the type of the neutrino mass spectrum, which can be with normal or inverted hierarchy. We show that the conditions under which the type of neutrino mass hierarchy can be determined are quite challenging, but are within the reach of the experiment under discussion.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-ph/0306017,
  title  = {Precision Neutrino Oscillation Physics with an Intermediate Baseline Reactor Neutrino Experiment},
  author = {Sandhya Choubey and S. T. Petcov and M. Piai},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-ph/0306017},
  year   = {2011}
}

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25 pages