Dalton Myers, UT Austin

"Measuring the Electron Energy Response of the NOvA Test Beam Detector Pushing the Limits of Neutrino Oscillations Measurements in NOvA"

Abstract: NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillations experiment utilizing Fermilab’s “Neutrinos from the Main Injector” (NuMI) beam. The experiment features a near detector located within the Fermilab campus and a far detector located in Ash River, Minnesota. The NOvA Test Beam program aims to improve the physics reach of NOvA by reducing systematic uncertainties associated with the detector technology used in the experiment. My goal within the Test Beam program is to measure the energy response of the Test Beam detector as a function of incident kinetic energy for electrons. This measurement has the potential to reduce the uncertainties associated with reconstruction of neutrino events in NOvA that have electrons in the final state. This could in turn improve the uncertainties associated with the far detector’s ?e appearance measurement and therefore the overall uncertainties of neutrino oscillations parameters measured by NOvA benefitting not only the collaboration, but also neutrino physics globally.