Ambiguities of theoretical parameters and CP/T violation in neutrino factories

Abstract

We study the sensitivity to the CP/T-violation search in the presence of ambiguities of the theoretical parameters. Three generations of neutrinos are considered. The parameters whose ambiguities are considered are the differences of the squared masses, the mixing angles, and the density of matter. We first consider the statistics that are sensitive to the genuine CP-violation effect originating from the imaginary coupling. No ambiguity of the parameters is considered in this part. It is argued that the widely-adopted usual statistics are not necessarily sensitive to the genuine CP-violation effect. Two statistics that are sensitive to the imaginary coupling are proposed. The qualitative difference between these statistics and the usual one are discussed. Next we proceed to the case where the ambiguity of the parameters is present. The sensitivity of the CP-violation search is greatly spoiled when the baseline length is longer than about one thousand kilometers, which turns out to be due to the ambiguity of the matter effect. Thus the CP-violation search by use of CP conjugate channels turns out to require a low energy neutrino and short baseline length. It is also shown that such a loss of sensitivity is avoided by using T-conjugate oscillation channels.