Neutrino mass ordering in light of recent data
Kevin J. Kelly, P. Machado, Stephen Parke, Yuber F. Perez-Gonzalez, R. Zukanovich Funchal
Abstract
We inspect recently updated neutrino oscillation data---specifically coming from the Tokai to Kamioka and NuMI Off-axis ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}$ Appearance experiments---and how they are analyzed to determine whether the neutrino mass ordering is normal (${m}_{1}<{m}_{2}<{m}_{3}$) or inverted (${m}_{3}<{m}_{1}<{m}_{2}$). We show that, despite previous results giving a strong preference for the normal ordering, with the newest data from T2K and NOvA, this preference has all but vanished. Additionally, we highlight the importance of this result for nonoscillation probes of neutrinos, including neutrinoless double beta decay and cosmology. Future experiments, including JUNO, DUNE, and T2HK will provide valuable information and determine the mass ordering at a high confidence level.