Neutrino mass ordering at DUNE: An extra ν bonus

Christoph A Ternes,Stefano Gariazzo,Rasmi Hajjar,Olga Mena,Michel Sorel,Mariam Tórtola

doi:10.1103/physrevd.100.093004

Abstract

We study the possibility of extracting the neutrino mass ordering at the future Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment using atmospheric neutrinos, which will be available before the muon neutrino beam starts being perational. The large statistics of the atmospheric muon neutrino and antineutrino samples at the far detector, together with the baselines of thousands of kilometers that these atmospheric (anti)neutrinos travel, provide the ideal ingredients to extract the neutrino mass ordering via matter effects in the neutrino propagation through the Earth. Crucially, muon capture by Argon provides excellent charge-tagging, allowing to disentangle the neutrino and antineutrino signature. This is a critical extra benefit of having a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber as far detector, that could render a $4\sigma$ extraction of the mass ordering after ten years of exposure.

Highlights

Neutrino oscillation experiments imply the first departure from the Standard Model of particle physics, as they have found overwhelming evidence for the existence of neutrino masses
In the absence of a magnetic field, not allowing for a charge identification of the final lepton state, one can make use of a particular event topology available in argon detectors: muon capture. This bonus process will provide a clean measurement of the muon charge that will considerably improve the capabilities of Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) to perform mass ordering measurements with atmospheric neutrinos
In order to emphasize the impact of the muon capture in argon, we present two possible analyses

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Neutrino oscillation experiments imply the first departure from the Standard Model of particle physics, as they have found overwhelming evidence for the existence of neutrino masses. We exploit the atmospheric neutrino signatures at the DUNE detector, a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) Despite this detection technology, in the absence of a magnetic field, not allowing for a charge identification of the final lepton state, one can make use of a particular event topology available in argon detectors: muon capture. In the absence of a magnetic field, not allowing for a charge identification of the final lepton state, one can make use of a particular event topology available in argon detectors: muon capture This bonus process will provide a clean measurement of the muon charge that will considerably improve the capabilities of DUNE to perform mass ordering measurements with atmospheric neutrinos.

MATTER EFFECTS AND ATMOSPHERIC NEUTRINOS

ATMOSPHERIC NEUTRINO EVENTS IN DUNE

ANALYSES AND RESULTS

Method B