On the Measurement of Solar Neutrino Oscillation Parameters with KamLAND

Abstract

A new reactor power plant Shika-2, with a power of approximately 4 GW and at a distance of about 88 km from the KamLAND detector is scheduled to start operating in March 2006. We study the impact of the $\bar\nu_e$ flux from this reactor on the sensitivity of the KamLAND experiment to the solar neutrino oscillation parameters. We present results on prospective determination of $\Delta m^2_\odot$ and $\sin^2\theta_\odot$ using the combined data from KamLAND and the solar neutrino experiments, including the effect of the Shika-2 contribution to the KamLAND signal and the latest data from the salt enriched phase of the SNO experiment. We find that contrary to the expectations, the addition of the Shika-2 reactor flux does not improve the $\sin^2\theta_\odot$ sensitivity of KamLAND, while the ambiguity in $\Delta m^2_\odot$ measurement may even increase, as a result of the averaging effect between Kashiwazaki and the Shika-2 reactor contributions to the KamLAND signal.