Abstract
There is recent evidence that some SiC grains from the Murchison meteorite may contain supernova-produced -process and or encapsulated in the grains. The synthesis of and via neutrino-induced nucleon emission (the process) in supernovas is sensitive to the neutrino mass hierarchy for finite . This sensitivity arises because, when there is 13 mixing, the average electron neutrino energy for charged-current neutrino reactions is larger for a normal mass hierarchy than for an inverted hierarchy. Recent constraints on from the Daya Bay, Double Chooz, MINOS, RENO, and T2K collaborations all suggest that indeed . We examine the possible implications of these new results based upon a Bayesian analysis of the uncertainties in the measured meteoritic material and the associated supernova nucleosynthesis models. We show that although the uncertainties are large, they hint at a marginal preference for an inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. We discuss the possibility that an analysis of more grains enriched in and along with a better understanding of the relevant stellar nuclear and neutrino reactions could eventually reveal the neutrino mass hierarchy.
- Received 1 August 2011
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.85.105023
© 2012 American Physical Society