4 research outputs found
First simulation study of trackless events in the INO-ICAL detector to probe the sensitivity to atmospheric neutrinos oscillation parameters
The proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory will host a 50 kton magnetized
iron calorimeter (ICAL) with resistive plate chambers as its active detector
element. Its primary focus is to study charged-current interactions of
atmospheric muon neutrinos via the reconstruction of muons in the detector. We
present the first study of the energy and direction reconstruction of the final
state lepton and hadrons produced in charged current interactions of
atmospheric electron neutrinos at ICAL and the sensitivity of these events to
neutrino oscillation parameters and . However,
the signatures of these events are similar to those from neutral-current
interactions and charged-current muon neutrino events in which the muon track
is not reconstructed. On including the entire set of events that do not produce
a muon track, we find that reasonably good sensitivity to is
obtained, with a relative precision of 15% on the mixing parameter
, which decreases to 21%, when systematic uncertainties are
considered
Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)
The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the
India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric
neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies and path
lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter
effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric
neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial to address some of
the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the
fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the
physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector
simulations. We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in
the detector, and the expected response of the detector to particles traversing
it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a
high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases
its physics reach substantially. Its charge identification capability, and
hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an
efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report,
we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass
hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters
at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of
runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics
scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.Comment: 139 pages, Physics White Paper of the ICAL (INO) Collaboration,
Contents identical with the version published in Pramana - J. Physic