Neutrino Telescopes for Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations

Despite being one of the most abundant known particles in the universe, neutrinos remain an enigma within the Standard Model. The past quarter-century has seen great experimental strides in measuring the properties of neutrino oscillations. However, several fundamental questions remain unanswered, some of which can be probed through atmospheric neutrino oscillations. 

Neutrino telescopes, such as the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and Super-Kamiokande, have been collecting GeV-scale atmospheric neutrino data for more than a decade. Current experiments provide competitive measurements of theta₂₃ and dm²₃₂ through muon neutrino disappearance and world-leading measurements of tau neutrino appearance. These atmospheric-based measurements complement accelerator-based measurements by probing longer distance scales and higher energies, including energies above the tau lepton production threshold.

The atmospheric neutrino detector landscape will change significantly in coming years with multiple new or improved neutrino telescopes coming online, such as the IceCube Upgrade, the full configuration of KM3NeT-ORCA, and Hyper-Kamiokande. In addition to improving current measurements, this next generation of detectors will significantly improve sensitivity to the neutrino mass ordering. Furthermore, neutrino detectors such as DUNE and JUNO, primarily built for detecting accelerator and reactor neutrinos, respectively, will also see significant numbers of atmospheric neutrinos. This talk will cover recent atmospheric neutrino oscillation measurements as well as key measurements expected with imminent new detectors.