We examine the capabilities of the DUNE experiment as a probe of the neutrino mixing paradigm. Taking the current status of neutrino oscillations and the design specifications of DUNE, we determine the experiment’s potential to probe the structure of neutrino mixing and $CP$ violation. We focus on the poorly determined parameters ${\theta }_{23}$ and ${\delta }_{CP}$ and consider both two and seven years of run. We take various benchmarks as our true values, such as the current preferred values of ${\theta }_{23}$ and ${\delta }_{CP}$, as well as several theory-motivated choices. We determine quantitatively DUNE’s potential to perform a precision measurement of ${\theta }_{23}$, as well as to test the $CP$ violation hypothesis in a model-independent way. We find that, after running for seven years, DUNE will make a substantial step in the precise determination of these parameters, bringing to quantitative test the predictions of various theories of neutrino mixing.

• Received 29 March 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.095025

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

Published by the American Physical Society