Terrestrial long-baseline neutrino-oscillation experiments

We present a systematic study of potential long-baseline (distances >300 km) neutrino-oscillation experiments performed with ${\nu }_{\mathrm{\mu }}$ and ν${\mathrm{¯}}_{\mathrm{\mu }}$ beams from the Fermilab Main Injector (〈${\mathit{E}}_{\nu }$〉≊10–20 GeV). The effects of matter enhancement are included where appropriate. We find that there are three key variables for such an experiment: the length of the baseline, the muon energy threshold, and the minimum measurable oscillation probability. An advantage in one of these variables can easily be neglected by a disadvantage in one of the others. Finally, for any long-baseline experiment at these energies to conclusively confirm or refute the interpretation of the atmospheric neutrino deficit as neutrino oscillations it must have a low energy threshold and a low minimum measurable oscillation probabilty.