Optimized Neutrino Factory for small and large θ13

Abstract

Recent results from long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments point towards a non-zero value of θ13 at around 3σ confidence level. In the coming years, further ratification of this result with high significance will have crucial impact on the planning of the future long baseline Neutrino Factory setup aimed to explore leptonic CP violation and the neutrino mass ordering. In this talk, we discuss the baseline and energy optimization of the Neutrino Factory including the latest simulation results on the magnetized iron neutrino detector (MIND) in the light of both small and large θ13. We find that in case of small θ13, baselines of about 2500 to 5000 km is the optimal choice for the CP violation measurement with Eμ as low as 12 GeV can be considered. However, for large θ13, we show that the lower threshold and the backgrounds reconstructed at lower energies allow in fact for muon energies as low as 5 to 8 GeV at considerably shorter baselines, such as Fermilab to Homestake. This suggests that with the latest MIND simulation, low- and high-energy versions of the Neutrino Factory are just two different forms of the same experiment optimized for different regions of the parameter space.