Demonstration of Ability to Establish the Mass Ordering of Neutrinos in the Sea – DAEMONS

Recent measurements performed in the neutrino sector by reactor and accelerator experiments have opened the possibility to measure the neutrino mass hierarchy (NMH)– a parameter yet unknown- by studying the energy (in the GeV domain) and the direction of atmospheric neutrinos with deep-underwater/ice detectors. From a theoretical perspective, the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy is of fundamental importance to constrain the models that seek to explain the origin of mass in the leptonic sector and the differences in the mass spectra of all elementary particles. It is therefore a measurement highly desired by the high-energy physics community. The novel approach based on atmospheric neutrinos offers serious advantages, as it could be much faster and cheaper than any other proposed alternative.
The aim of the DAEMONS project is to form a Task Force to demonstrate the feasibility of such a deep-sea detector, dubbed ORCA (Oscillation Research with Cosmics in the Abyss), designed according to the technology of the future neutrino telescope KM3NeT, and which will be deployed on the French site, off Toulon. The success of the demonstrator also involves designing a calibration line whose performance might be optimal with financial support provided by the ANR. The project requires full simulation studies, but also the exploitation of a KM3NeT funded demonstrator to be deployed in the French site.
Considering the strong worldwide competition to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy (and in particular the direct concurrence of PINGU –a similar project with US leadership to be installed at the South Pole), the DAEMONS project aims at accelerating the ORCA feasibility study and the exploitation of data from the ORCA demonstrator array. The ANR support will offer the French teams the opportunity to play a leading role in proving the merits of the ORCA concept. Positive results from the DAEMONS project will undoubtedly trigger the construction of a larger array providing the first measurement of the neutrino mass hierarchy.