Neutrino mass hierarchy determination at reactor antineutrino experiments

Abstract

After the neutrino mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ has been precisely measured by the reactor antineutrino experiments, one of the most important open questions left in neutrino physics is the neutrino mass hierarchy. Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is designed to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy (MH) without exploring the matter effect. The JUNO site location is optimized to have the best sensitivity for the mass hierarchy determination. JUNO will employ a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector located in a laboratory 700 meters underground. The excellent energy resolution and PMT coverage will give us an unprecedented opportunity to reach a 3-4 $\sigma$ precision. In this paper, the JUNO detector design and simulation work will be presented. Also, RENO-50, another medium distance reactor antineutrino experiment, will do a similar measurement. With the efforts of these experiments, it is very likely that the neutrino mass hierarchy will be determined in the next 10 years.