Neutrino mass hierarchy, vacuum oscillations, and vanishing vertical bar U{sub e3} vertical bar
- Northwestern University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208 (United States)
Is the relatively isolated member of the neutrino mass spectrum heavier or lighter than the two closely-spaced members? This question--the character of the neutrino mass hierarchy--is of great theoretical interest. All previously identified experiments for addressing it via neutrino oscillations require that the currently unknown size of the U{sub e3} element of the leptonic mixing matrix (parameterized by the unknown {theta}{sub 13} mixing angle) be sufficiently large, and will utterly fail in the limit {theta}{sub 13}{yields}0. For this reason, we explore alternative oscillation approaches that would still succeed even if {theta}{sub 13} vanishes. We identify several alternatives that require neither a nonzero vertical bar U{sub e3} vertical bar nor the presence of significant matter effects (even if the latter are unavoidable in the case of long-baseline, Earth-based experiments). All include multiple percent-level neutrino oscillation measurements, usually involving muon-neutrino (or antineutrino) disappearance and very long baselines. We comment on the degree of promise that these alternative approaches show.
- OSTI ID:
- 20709440
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 71, Issue 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.71.113009; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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