Physics at a future Neutrino Factory and super-beam facility

Abstract

The conclusions of the Physics Working Group of the International Scoping Study of a future Neutrino Factory and super-beam facility (the ISS) are presented. The ISS was carried out by the international community between NuFact05, (the 7th International Workshop on Neutrino Factories and Super-beams, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Rome, 21-26 June 2005) and NuFact06 (Ivine, CA, 24-30 August 2006). The physics case for an extensive experimental programme to understand the properties of the neutrino is presented and the role of high-precision measurements of neutrino oscillations within this programme is discussed in detail. The performance of second-generation super-beam experiments, beta-beam facilities and the Neutrino Factory are evaluated and a quantitative comparison of the discovery potential of the three classes of facility is presented. High-precision studies of the properties of the muon are complementary to the study of neutrino oscillations. The Neutrino Factory has the potential to provide extremely intense muon beams and the physics potential of such beams is discussed in the final section of the report.

LeptonicCPviolation

“…Instead, we aim at presenting a brief overview of the sensitivities and prospects in the measurement of θ 13 , δ, and sgn(∆m 2 31 ), in future neutrino oscillation facilities. For further details, we refer the reader to other works exclusively dedicated to the subject (Apollonio et al, 2002;Bandyopadhyay et al, 2009;Bernabeu et al, 2010;Mezzetto and Schwetz, 2010;Nunokawa et al, 2008).…”

Interim Design Report

“…Two possible alternative detector technologies have been considered: either a 20 kTon totally active scintillating detector (TASD) [118] or a 100 kTon liquid argon (LAr) detector [119], both of which would need to be magnetised; a challenging requirement. These detectors would be capable of detecting and identifying the charges of both electrons and muons, providing access to multiple oscillation channels: the ν µ (ν µ ) disappearance channels, as well as the golden (ν e → ν µ andν e →ν µ ) [102] and platinum channels (ν µ → ν e andν µ →ν e ).…”

“…The 3σ θ 13 discovery potential, CP discovery potential and sensitivity to the mass hierarchy as a function of sin 2 2θ 13 in terms of the CP fraction are shown, for the low-energy Neutrino Factory with a 20 kton TASD (red line), the low-energy Neutrino Factory with a 100 kton LAr detector (blue band -the left-hand edge corresponds to the optimistic assumptions and the right-hand edge to the conservative assumptions), and other experiments -the ISS baseline Neutrino Factory [118] (black line), various β-beams (green [338], orange [339,340], blue [341] lines), T2HK [118] (yellow line) and the wide-band beam [342] (purple line). In these simulations we used the same oscillation parameters as in reference [343], and have assumed a normal hierarchy.…”

“…The starting point for the International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF [1]) was the output of the earlier International Scoping Study for a future Neutrino Factory and super-beam facility (the ISS) [4][5][6]. The accelerator facility described in section 2 incorporates the improvements that have been derived from the substantial amount of work carried out within the Accelerator Working Group.…”

New physics searches at near detectors of neutrino oscillation experiments

“…For this purpose, neutrino oscillation facilities exploit beams from various sources: currently from pion decay (conventional beams and super-beams [1,2]) and in the future possibly also from the decay of radiative ions (β-beams [3,4]) or from the decays of muons in a storage ring at a neutrino factory [5][6][7][8][9]. In addition to measuring the leptonic parameters, neutrino oscillation facilities can also be excellent probes of new physics, especially in the lepton sector.…”