Würzburg 2018 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

SYMD: Symposium SMuK Dissertationspreis 2018

SYMD 1: SMuK Dissertationspreis 2018

SYMD 1.3: Invited Talk

Monday, March 19, 2018, 14:50–15:15, Z6 - HS 0.004

Measuring the neutrino mass hierarchy with the future KM3NeT/ORCA detector in the deep sea — •Jannik Hofestädt — Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, ECAP

A key question of particle physics is the ordering of the three neutrino mass eigenstates. This so-called neutrino mass hierarchy can be resolved by measuring the energy- and zenith-angle-dependent oscillation pattern of few-GeV atmospheric neutrinos. This is the primary goal of KM3NeT/ORCA, a future underwater Cherenkov detector at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Among the experimental challenges are the optimisation of the experimental accuracy and efficiency as well as the control of the systematics, including specificities of the natural deep-sea environment, such as optical background due to bioluminescence.

I will present my work performed to investigate and optimise the ORCA sensitivity to the neutrino mass hierarchy, including the development of a new reconstruction algorithm for neutrino events and the optimisation of detector layout and event triggering. With these key ingredients the neutrino mass hierarchy can be determined with ORCA with 3-sigma significance after 3-4 years of operation.