2025/07/10 by Nishat Fiza, Fiza, Nishat, Suhyeon Kim +13
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.07476
openalex publication_date 2025/07/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a comprehensive comparison of the physics sensitivities of a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) and a Water-based Liquid Scintillator (WbLS) detector, considering their potential deployment as the fourth far detector module in the DUNE facility. Using GLoBES-based simulations, we evaluate their performance in measuring standard neutrino oscillation parameters (θ23, δ13 and Δm231), both in standard 3-neutrino case, as well as in presence of new physics scenarios involving light sterile neutrinos and neutral-current non-standard interactions (NC NSI). Our findings show that THEIA (a WbLS-based detector) significantly outperforms LArTPC in resolving the CP phase δ13,- especially near maximal CP violation, and in lifting the octant degeneracy of θ23 due to its superior energy resolution and ability to clearly identify the second oscillation maximum. Furthermore, THEIA offers competitive reconstruction precision even with relatively moderate energy resolutions (7-10%/√(E)) and demonstrates enhanced robustness under new physics scenarios. These results support the physics-driven case for a hybrid DUNE configuration utilizing both LArTPC and WbLS technologies for optimized sensitivity across the full spectrum of neutrino oscillation and physics beyond the standard model.