Soutenances

# Liam Quinn, Determining the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy with KM3NeT/ORCA

Europe/Paris
Amphi (CPPM)

### Amphi

#### CPPM

Description
Abstract : ORCA (Oscillation Research with Cosmics in the Abyss) is a megaton-scale Cherenkov neutrino detector currently under construction by the KM3NeT collaboration, at a depth of 2450m in the Mediterranean Sea.
Atmospheric neutrinos cross the Earth along a wide range of baselines, undergoing matter effects which enhance neutrino oscillations in the few GeV energy range with a dependence on the neutrino mass hierarchy (NMH).
The ORCA design consists of a dense configuration of optical modules, containing 31 3'' photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), exploiting the excellent optical properties of deep seawater to reconstruct both cascade events (mostly $\nu_e$) and track events (mostly $\nu_\mu$) down to a few GeV.
ORCA is expected to measure the NMH with a median significance greater than $3\sigma$ after a few years of operation.
This work focuses on event reconstruction, as well as the methods and results of the sensitivity studies for the measurement of the mass hierarchy and the oscillation parameters $\theta_{23}$ and $\Delta m_{32}^2$.

Membres du jury:
Jennifer Thomas (Rapportrice)
Juan Zúñiga Román (Rapporteur)
Justin Evans (Examinateur)
Jason Koskinen (Examinateur)
Anne Stutz (Examinatrice)
Cristinel Diaconu (Directeur du CPPM)
Paschal Coyle (Directeur de thèse)