Low energy neutrino factory for large theta(13)

If the value of theta(13) is within the reach of the upcoming generation of long-baseline experiments, T2K and NO nu A, we show that a low-energy neutrino factory, with peak energy in the few GeV range, would provide a sensitive tool to explore CP violation and the neutrino mass hierarchy. We consider baselines with the typical length 1000-1500 km. The unique performance of the low-energy neutrino factory is due to the rich neutrino oscillation pattern at energies between 1 and 4 GeV at baselines O(1000) km. We perform both a semianalytical study of the sensitivities and a numerical analysis to explore how well this setup can measure theta(13), CP violation, and determine the type of mass hierarchy and the theta(23) octant. A low-energy neutrino factory provides a powerful tool to resolve ambiguities and make precise parameter determinations, for both large and fairly small values of the mixing parameter theta(13).