How precisely can we reduce the three-flavor neutrino oscillation to the two-flavor one only from (\delta m^2_{12})/(\delta m^2_{13}) <~ 1/15 ?

Abstract

We derive the reduction formula, which expresses the survival rate for the three-flavor neutrino oscillation by the two-flavor one, to the next-to-leading order in case there is one resonance due to the matter effect. We numerically find that the next-to-leading reduction formula is extremely accurate and the improvement is relevant for the precision test of solar neutrino oscillation and the indirect measurment of CP violation in the leptonic sector. We also derive the reduction formula, which is slightly different from that previously obtained, in case there are two resonances. We numerically verify that this reduction formula is quite accurate and is valid for wider parameter region than the previously obtained ones are.

Comments: 28pages, 8figures, revtex4. to appear in PRD