Advantages of multiple detectors for the neutrino mass hierarchy determination at reactor experiments

Emilio Ciuffoli, Jarah Evslin, Zhimin Wang, Changgen Yang, Xinmin Zhang, and Weili Zhong
Phys. Rev. D 89, 073006 – Published 8 April 2014

Abstract

We study the advantages of a second identical detector at a medium baseline reactor neutrino experiment. A major obstruction to the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy is the detector’s unknown nonlinear energy response, which even under optimistic assumptions reduces the sensitivity to the hierarchy by about 1σ at a single detector experiment. Various energy response models are considered at one- and two-detector experiments with the same total target mass. A second detector at a sufficiently different baseline eliminates this 1σ reduction. Considering the unknown energy response, we find the sensitivity to the hierarchy at various candidate detector locations for JUNO and RENO 50. The best site for JUNO’s near detector is under ZiLuoShan, 17 and 66 km from the Yangjiang and Taishan reactor complexes, respectively. We briefly describe other advantages, including a more precise determination of θ12 and the possibility of a DAEδALUS-inspired program to measure the CP-violating phase δ using a single pion source about 10 km from one detector and 20 km from the other. Two identical half-sized detectors provide a better energy resolution than a single detector, further increasing the sensitivity to the hierarchy.

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  • Received 13 September 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.89.073006

© 2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Emilio Ciuffoli1,*, Jarah Evslin1,2,†, Zhimin Wang3,‡, Changgen Yang3,§, Xinmin Zhang2,1,¶, and Weili Zhong3,∥

  • 1TPCSF, IHEP, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • 2Theoretical Physics Division, IHEP, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • 3Particle Astrophysics Division, IHEP, Chinese Academy of Sciences YuQuan Lu 19(B), Beijing 100049, China

  • *ciuffoli@ihep.ac.cn
  • jarah@ihep.ac.cn
  • wangzhm@ihep.ac.cn
  • §yangcg@ihep.ac.cn
  • xmzhang@ihep.ac.cn
  • zhongwl@ihep.ac.cn

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Vol. 89, Iss. 7 — 1 April 2014

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