Solar parameters in long-baseline accelerator neutrino oscillations

Abstract

Abstract Long-baseline (LBL) accelerator neutrino oscillation experiments, such as NOvA and T2K in the current generation, and DUNE-LBL and HK-LBL in the coming years, will measure the remaining unknown oscillation parameters with excellent precision. These analyses assume external input on the so-called “solar parameters,” θ12 and $$ \Delta {m}_{21}^2 $$ ∆ m 21 2 , from solar experiments such as SNO, SK, and Borexino, as well as reactor experiments like KamLAND. Here we investigate their role in long-baseline experiments. We show that, without external input on $$ \Delta {m}_{21}^2 $$ ∆ m 21 2 and θ12, the sensitivity to detecting and quantifying CP violation is significantly, but not entirely, reduced. Thus long-baseline accelerator experiments can actually determine $$ \Delta {m}_{21}^2 $$ ∆ m 21 2 and θ12, and thus all six oscillation parameters, without input from any other oscillation experiment. In particular, $$ \Delta {m}_{21}^2 $$ ∆ m 21 2 can be determined; thus DUNE-LBL and HK-LBL can measure both the solar and atmospheric mass splittings in their long-baseline analyses alone. While their sensitivities are not competitive with existing constraints, they are very orthogonal probes of solar parameters and provide a key consistency check of a less probed sector of the three-flavor oscillation picture. Furthermore, we also show that the true values of $$ \Delta {m}_{21}^2 $$ ∆ m 21 2 and θ12 play an important role in the sensitivity of other oscillation parameters such as the CP violating phase δ.