Atmospheric neutrinos at Super-Kamiokande and parametric resonance in neutrino oscillations

Abstract

We consider the oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos in the earth in the three-neutrino scheme with a $\Delta m^2$ hierarchy and a small admixture of the electron neutrino in the heavy mass eigenstate characterized by the mixing angle $\theta_{13}$. We show that for $\Delta m^2 \simeq (0.5 - 3) \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$ indicated by the Super-Kamiokande data and $\sin^2 2\theta_{13} \aprle 0.2$, the oscillations of multi-GeV neutrinos in the subdominant $\nu_{\mu} \leftrightarrow \nu_e$ mode are enhanced by the MSW and parametric resonances. The parametric resonance, which occurs when the neutrinos cross the core of the earth, dominates for $\Delta m^2 \simeq (1 - 2)\times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$, $\sin^2 2\theta_{13} \aprle 0.06$. The resonance matter effects lead to an observable excess of the e-like events with a specific zenith angle dependence even for small $\theta_{13}$. The up-down asymmetry of the multi-GeV e-like events can reach 15% for $|\cos \Theta_e| > 0.2$ and up to 30% for $|\cos \Theta_e| > 0.6$, where $\Theta_e$ is the zenith angle of the electron. The resonance matter effects are relevant for the interpretation of the Super-Kamiokande data.