Very Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment for Precise Measurements of Mixing Parameters and CP Violating Effects

Abstract

We analyze the prospects of a feasible, Brookhaven National Laboratory based, very long baseline (BVLB) neutrino oscillation experiment consisting of a conventional horn produced low energy wide band beam and a detector of 500 kT fiducial mass with modest requirements on event recognition and resolution. Such an experiment is intended primarily to determine CP violating effects in the neutrino sector for 3-generation mixing. We analyze the sensitivity of such an experiment. We conclude that this experiment will allow determination of the CP phase ${\delta }_{CP}$ and the currently unknown mixing parameter ${\theta }_{13}$, if ${\sin }^{2}2{\theta }_{13}\ge 0.01$, a value $\sim 15$ times lower than the present experimental upper limit. In addition to ${\theta }_{13}$ and ${\delta }_{CP}$, the experiment has great potential for precise measurements of most other parameters in the neutrino mixing matrix including $\Delta m_{32}^2$, ${\sin }^{2}2{\theta }_{23}$, $\Delta m_{21}^2\times \sin 2{\theta }_{12}$, and the mass ordering of neutrinos through the observation of the matter effect in the ${\nu }_{\mu }\to {\nu }_e$ appearance channel.

Comments: 12 pages, 10 figures