Speaker
Dr
Thierry PRADIER
(IPHC)
Description
Since the measurement of the mixing angle theta_13, the determination of the neutrino
mass hierarchy (normal vs. inverted) has become one of the central challenges of neutrino
physics, together with the search for CP violation in the leptonic sector. Recent studies
have pointed out that the neutrino mass hierarchy can be investigated in the atmospheric
neutrino sector, in the energy range 1-20 GeV, where oscillations are affected by Earth
matter effects, exploiting the appearance/disappearance patterns of different neutrino
types as a function of energy and path through the Earth. ORCA - Oscillations Research
with Cosmics in the Abyss - will be a detector made of a dense configuration of KM3NeT
detection units, optimised for studying the interactions of neutrinos in seawater at low
energies. To be deployed at the French KM3NeT site, ORCA's multi-PMT optical modules
will take advantage of the excellent optical properties of deep seawater to accurately
reconstruct both cascade and track events with a few GeV of energy. This contribution
reviews these methods and technology and presents the ORCA sensitivity for the neutrino
mass hierarchy.
Author
Dr
Thierry PRADIER
(IPHC)
