The proposed PINGU experiment is a Cherenkov detector that will make precise measurements of atmospheric neutrinos in order to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. This study focuses on the uncertainties on the atmospheric muon neutrino flux arising from cosmic-ray primaries and will provide an up-to-date version of the primaryflux uncertainties estimated by comparing the GSHL parametrizationformula for cosmic rays with modern cosmic-ray measurements. The modern data used for the analysis indicate an increase in the uncertainties associated with the primary flux, which are then converted into uncertainties on the atmospheric muon neutrino flux. Using these uncertainties, the predicted sensitivity of the PINGU experiment is calculated by means of a Fisher analysis. The analysis has been performed with and without the up-to-date atmospheric muon neutrino flux uncertainties and an evaluation of the impact of the uncertainties on PINGU sensitivity is provided. Final results show that the effect of the flux uncertainties on the mass hierarchy determination are small and that these uncertainties are not significant for the PINGU experiment. Projections of the sensitivity of PINGU to the mass hierarchy as a function of time show that PINGU will be able to reach a 3sigma significance in five years.
Date of Award | 1 Aug 2016 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | - The University of Manchester
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Supervisor | Stefan Soldner-Rembold (Supervisor) & Andrzej Szelc (Supervisor) |
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Uncertainties in Atmospheric Muon Neutrino Fluxes from Cosmic Ray Primaries and their Impact on the Determination of the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy with PINGU
Porzio, S. D. (Author). 1 Aug 2016
Student thesis: Master of Science by Research