Eur. Phys. J. C 24, 43-50 (2002)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100520200935

Prospects of measuring sin² 2Θ₁₃ and the sign of Δm² with a massive magnetized detector for atmospheric neutrinos

INFN, Sezione di Milano, Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 Milan, Italy

Received: 4 December 2001
Revised: 18 February 2002
Published online: 5 April 2002

Abstract

The pattern of oscillation parameters emerging from current experimental data can be further elucidated by the observation of matter effects. In contrast to planned experiments with conventional neutrino beams, atmospheric neutrinos offer the possibility to search for Earth-induced matter effects with very long baselines. Resonant matter effects are asymmetric on neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, depending on the sign of Δm². In a three-generation oscillation scenario, this gives access to the mass hierarchy of neutrinos, while the size of the asymmetry would measure the admixture of electron neutrinos to muon/tau neutrino oscillations (the mixing angle Θ₁₃). The sensitivity to these effects is discussed after the detailed simulation of a realistic experiment based on a massive detector for atmospheric neutrinos with charge identification. We show how a detector which measures and distinguishes between ν_μ and ͞ν_μ charged current events, might be sensitive to matter effects using atmospheric neutrinos, provided the mixing angle Θ₁₃ is large enough.