Manipulating a neutrino spectrum to maximize the physics potential from a low-energy β beam

Proposed low-energy beta-beam facilities would be capable of producing intense beams of neutrinos (antineutrinos) with well-defined spectra. We present analytic expressions and numerical results that accurately show how the total neutrino flux reaching the detector depends on the geometry of the source and the detector. Several authors have proposed measurements which require using different flux shapes. We show that detectors of different sizes and shapes will receive neutrino fluxes with different spectral shapes and that the spectral shape will also be different in different regions of the same detector. Our findings also show that for certain measurements, systematic uncertainties and run time can be reduced.