Resolving the octant of theta23 with T2K and NOvA

Understand

Preliminary results of MINOS experiment indicate that theta23 is not maximal.

• Global fits to world neutrino data suggest two nearly degenerate solutions for theta23: one in the lower octant (LO: theta23 < 45 degree) and the other in the higher octant (HO: theta23 > 45 degree).
• numu to nue oscillations in superbeam experiments are sensitive to the octant and are capable of resolving this degeneracy.
• We study the prospects of this resolution by the current T2K and upcoming NOvA experiments.