Profile

Project title:  Measurement of muon antineutrino charged-current interactions without final-state mesons, in the NOvA near detector

Supervisor: Dr Linda Cremonesi

Content: NOvA is an experiment based at Fermilab in the US, with the aim of measuring neutrino and antineutrino oscillations to better understand electroweak interactions and the origin of the universe.  To measure neutrino oscillations, we need to learn and understand how neutrinos and antineutrinos interact with matter.  Antineutrino interaction cross sections are currently poorly constrained, and processes such as meson exchange currents are not well understood in the antineutrino sector.

This study is to develop a measurement of muon antineutrino interactions which do not contain mesons (e.g., pions or kaons) in the final state, in the NOvA near detector.  The sample is dominated by quasi-elastic and meson exchange current processes, and the selection will be developed in order for the cross section to be extracted as a function of the kinematics of the outgoing particles.  This can then be compared to current theoretical models used, for example, in neutrino event generators, providing vital data to the neutrino community and helping to disentangle effects in past antineutrino oscillation measurements.

Funding:  Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

Research

Performance