Determining the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy with Atmospheric Neutrinos

Abstract

The possibility to determine the type of neutrino mass hierarchy by studying atmospheric neutrino oscillations with a detector capable to distinguish between neutrino and antineutrino events, such as magnetized iron calorimeters, is considered. We discuss how the ability to distinguish between the neutrino mass spectrum with normal and inverted hierarchy depends on detector characteristics like neutrino energy and direction resolutions or charge miss-identification, and on the systematical uncertainties related to the atmospheric neutrino fluxes...