A method for the detection of neutrino oscillations in a long-baseline experiment using energy measurements of νμ charged current events

A method for detecting neutrino oscillations in a long-baseline experiment using the energy measurements of νμ charged current events is described. The method uses the cosine component of the Rayleigh vector, Z, computed from the measured energies of events as an efficient, bin-free statistic. The statistical properties of Z and the range of applicability, in terms of sin2 (2θ) and Δm2 are discussed. Examples of the statistical limits which could be reached in an experiment are presented. It is shown that in certain circumstances a clear signal for neutrino oscillations can be obtained with only a minimal knowledge of the neutrino flux at the source.