微中子穿透地球之振盪機率

Abstract

物理學家從1930年代提出微中子以來，一直對它是否具有質量的問題感到迷惑不解。直到西元1998年，日本的Super-Kamiokande實驗才真正有力地證實了微中子的確具有質量；同時因為具質量的微中子會擁有振盪的效應，也完整地解釋了微中子偵測數目減少的現象。本篇文章的目標是利用微中子振盪的效應，具體地計算微中子穿透地球後的振盪機率，同時分析了不同參數值對它的影響，以及圖形內各峰值的物理意義。未來我們可以應用這些結果，去做某些有關地球內部的探測，或是應用振盪的現象來測量微中子的質量本徵值的大小次序。

The puzzle about neutrino masses was unsolved for almost 60 years until the 1998 Super-Kaniokande experiment gave a strong evidence for neutrino oscillations and consequently the existence of neutrino masses. Also, the diminish for neutrino detection was completely explained because neutrinos which have mass always oscillate. The goal of this thesis is to calculate the oscillation probabilities for neutrinos traversing the earth, assuming the three-flavor oscillation frameworks. We present the oscillation probabilities for different incident Nadir angles and the neutrino mixing angle θ13. Our analysis is useful for studying the density profile of the earth.