Testing the Neutrino Mass Ordering with Four Years of IceCube/DeepCore Data

Abstract

The measurement of the Neutrino Mass Ordering (NMO), i.e. the ordering of the neutrino mass eigenstates, is one of the major goals of many future neutrino experiments. One strategy is to measure matter effects in the oscillation pattern of atmospheric neutrinos as proposed for the PINGU extension of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Already, the currently running IceCube/DeepCore detector can explore this type of measurement. Albeit with lower significance, such a measurement can contribute to the current understanding. Furthermore, such an analysis exercises the measurement principle and evaluation of systematic uncertainties and thus prototypes future analyses with PINGU. We present a likelihood analysis spanning multiple years of IceCube data searching for indications of the NMO with a data sample reaching to energies below 10 GeV.