PINGU Sensitivity to the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy

Understand

The neutrino mass hierarchy is one of the few remaining unknown parameters in the neutrino sector and hence a primary focus of the experimental community.

• The Precision IceCube Next Generation Upgrade (PINGU) experiment, to be co-located with the IceCube DeepCore detector in the deep Antarctic glacier, is being designed to provide a first definitive measurement of the mass hierarchy.
• We have conducted feasibility studies for the detector design that demonstrate a statistically-limited sensitivity to the hierarchy of 2.1 sigma to 3.4 sigma per year is possible, depending on the detector geometry (20 to 40 strings) and analysis efficiencies.
• First studies of the effects of systematic and theoretical uncertainties show limited impact on the overall sensitivity to the hierarchy.