Optimization of neutrino oscillation facilities for large θ_{13}

Abstract

Up to now, future neutrino beam experiments have been designed and optimized in order to look for CP violation, θ_{13} and the mass hierarchy under the conservative assumption that θ_{13} is very small. However, the recent results from T2K and MINOS favor a θ_{13} which could be as large as 8^{\circ}. In this work, we propose a re-optimization for neutrino beam experiments in case this hint is confirmed. By switching from the first to the second oscillation peak, we find that the CP discovery potential of future oscillation experiments would not only be enhanced, but it would also be less affected by systematic uncertainties. In order to illustrate the effect, we present our results for a Super-Beam experiment, comparing the results obtained at the first and the second oscillation peaks for several values of the systematic errors. We also study its combination with a β-beam facility and show that the synergy between both experiments would also be enhanced due to the larger L/E. Moreover, the increased matter effects at the larger L/E also significantly improves the sensitivity to the mass hierarchy.