The full physics potential of the next-generation Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is still being explored. In particular, there have been some recent studies on the possibility of improving DUNEs neutrino energy reconstruction. The main m
otivation is that a better determination of the neutrino energy in an event-by-event basis will translate into an improved measurement of the Dirac $CP$ phase and other neutrino oscillation parameters. To further motivate studies and improvements on the neutrino energy reconstruction, we evaluate the impact of energy resolution at DUNE on an illustrative new physics scenario, viz. non-standard interactions (NSI) of neutrinos with matter. We show that a better energy resolution in comparison to the ones given in the DUNE conceptual and technical design reports may significantly enhance the experimental sensitivity to NSI, particularly when degeneracies are present. While a better reconstruction of the first oscillation peak helps disentangling standard $CP$ effects from those coming from NSIs, we find that the second oscillation peak also plays a nontrivial role in improving DUNEs sensitivity.
Determination of the neutrino mass ordering (NMO) is one of the biggest priorities in the intensity frontier of high energy particle physics. To accomplish that goal a lot of efforts are being put together with the atmospheric, solar, reactor, and ac
celerator neutrinos. In the standard 3-flavor framework, NMO is defined to be normal if $m_1<m_2<m_3$, and inverted if $m_3<m_1<m_2$, where $m_1$, $m_2$, and $m_3$ are the masses of the three neutrino mass eigenstates $ u_1$, $ u_2$, and $ u_3$ respectively. Interestingly, two long-baseline experiments T2K and NO$ u$A are playing a leading role in this direction and provide a $sim2.4sigma$ indication in favor of normal ordering (NO) which we find in this work. In addition, we examine how the situation looks like in presence of non-standard interactions (NSI) of neutrinos with a special focus on the non-diagonal flavor changing type $varepsilon_{etau}$ and $varepsilon_{emu}$. We find that the present indication of NO in the standard 3-flavor framework gets completely vanished in the presence of NSI of the flavor changing type involving the $e-tau$ flavors.
We study in detail the impact of a light sterile neutrino in the interpretation of the latest data of the long baseline experiments NO$ u$A and T2K, assessing the robustness/fragility of the estimates of the standard 3-flavor parameters with respect
to the perturbations induced in the 3+1 scheme. We find that all the basic features of the 3-flavor analysis, including the weak indication ($sim$1.4$sigma$) in favor of the inverted neutrino mass ordering, the preference for values of the CP-phase $delta_{13} sim 1.2pi$, and the substantial degeneracy of the two octants of $theta_{23}$, all remain basically unaltered in the 4-flavor scheme. Our analysis also demonstrates that it is possible to attain some constraints on the new CP-phase $delta_{14}$. Finally, we point out that, differently from non-standard neutrino interactions, light sterile neutrinos are not capable to alleviate the tension recently emerged between NO$ u$A and T2K in the appearance channel.
ESS$ u$SB is a proposed neutrino super-beam project at the ESS facility. We study the performance of this setup in the presence of a light eV-scale sterile neutrino, considering 540 km baseline with 2 years (8 years) of $ u$ ($bar u$) run-plan. This
baseline offers the possibility to work around the second oscillation maximum, providing high sensitivity towards CP-violation (CPV). We explore in detail its capability in resolving CPV generated by the standard CP phase $delta_{13}$, the new CP phase $delta_{14}$, and the octant of $theta_{23}$. We find that the sensitivity to CPV induced by $delta_{13}$ deteriorates noticeably when going from $3 u$ to 4$ u$ case. The two phases $delta_{13}$ and $delta_{14}$ can be reconstructed with a 1$sigma$ uncertainty of $sim15^0$ and $ sim35^0$ respectively. Concerning the octant of $theta_{23}$, we find poor sensitivity in both $3 u$ and $4 u$ schemes. Our results show that a setup like ESS$ u$SB working around the second oscillation maximum with a baseline of 540 km, performs quite well to explore CPV in 3$ u$ scheme, but it is not optimal for studying CP properties in 3+1 scheme.
One of the major open questions in particle physics is the issue of the neutrino mass ordering (NMO). The current data of the two long-baseline experiments NO$ u$A and T2K, interpreted in the standard 3-flavor scenario, provide a $sim2.4sigma$ indica
tion in favor of the normal neutrino mass ordering. We show that such an indication is completely washed out if one assumes the existence of neutral-current non-standard interactions (NSI) of the flavor changing type involving the $e-tau$ flavors. This implies that the claim for a discovery of the NMO will require a careful consideration of the impact of hypothetical NSI.
We investigate the performance of T2HK in the presence of a light eV scale sterile neutrino. We study in detail its influence in resolving fundamental issues like mass hierarchy, CP-violation (CPV) induced by the standard CP-phase $delta_{13}$ and ne
w CP-phase $delta_{14}$, and the octant ambiguity of $theta_{23}$. We show for the first time in detail that due to the impressive energy reconstruction capabilities of T2HK, the available spectral information plays an important role to enhance the mass hierarchy discovery reach of this experiment in 3$ u$ framework and also to keep it almost intact even in $4 u$ scheme. This feature is also of the utmost importance in establishing the CPV due to $delta_{14}$. As far as the sensitivity to CPV due to $delta_{13}$ is concerned, it does not change much going from $3 u$ to 4$ u$ case. We also examine the reconstruction capability of the two phases $delta_{13}$ and $delta_{14}$, and find that the typical 1$sigma$ uncertainty on $delta_{13}$ ($delta_{14}$) in T2HK is $sim15^0$ ($30^0$). While determining the octant of $theta_{23}$, we face a complete loss of sensitivity for unfavorable combinations of unknown $delta_{13}$ and $delta_{14}$.
Current 3$ u$ global fits predict two degenerate solutions for $theta_{23}$: one lies in lower octant ($theta_{23} <pi/4$), and the other belongs to higher octant ($theta_{23} >pi/4$). Here, we study how the measurement of $theta_{23}$ octant would b
e affected in the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) if there exist a light eV-scale sterile neutrino. We show that in 3+1 scheme, a new interference term in $ u_mu to u_e$ oscillation probability can spoil the chances of measuring $theta_{23}$ octant completely.
Taking into account the current global information on neutrino oscillation parameters we forecast the capabilities of future long baseline experiments such as DUNE and T2HK in settling the atmospheric octant puzzle. We find that a good measurement of
the reactor angle $theta_{13}$ plays a key role in fixing the octant of the atmospheric angle $theta_{23}$ with such future accelerator neutrino studies.
We perform realistic simulations of the current and future long baseline experiments such as T2K, NO$ u$A, DUNE and T2HK in order to determine their ultimate potential in probing neutrino oscillation parameters. We quantify the potential of these exp
eriments to underpin the octant of the atmospheric angle $theta_{23}$ as well as the value and sign of the CP phase $delta_{CP}$.
Present global fits of world neutrino data hint towards non-maximal $theta_{23}$ with two nearly degenerate solutions, one in the lower octant ($theta_{23} <pi/4$), and the other in the higher octant ($theta_{23} >pi/4$). This octant ambiguity of $th
eta_{23}$ is one of the fundamental issues in the neutrino sector, and its resolution is a crucial goal of next-generation long-baseline (LBL) experiments. In this letter, we address for the first time, the impact of a light eV-scale sterile neutrino towards such a measurement, taking the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) as a case study. In the so-called 3+1 scheme involving three active and one sterile neutrino, the $ u_mu to u_e$ transition probability probed in the LBL experiments acquires a new interference term via active-sterile oscillations. We find that this novel interference term can mimic a swap of the $theta_{23}$ octant, even if one uses the information from both neutrino and antineutrino channels. As a consequence, the sensitivity to the octant of $theta_{23}$ can be completely lost and this may have serious implications in our understanding of neutrinos from both the experimental and theoretical perspectives.
