APS 2019 talk done at the detector R&D session about the NOvA Test Beam Program

1. The NOvA Test Beam Program
Chatura Kuruppu (for the NOvA Collaboration)
University of South Carolina
Apr 14 2019

2. The NOvA Experiment
• A neutrino oscillation experiment with 810 km baseline,
two functionally equivalent detectors, NuMI !μ 700 kW
beam, off-axis
Main physics goals:
• !μ disappearance
• !e appearance
• Neutrino Mass hierarchy
• Leptonic CP violation
• More... Far Detector
Near Detector
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 01/12

3. • Statistical uncertainties will decrease
as the experiment progress
• Understanding and addressing
systematics is very important
• In !μ disappearance analysis:
Muon and hadron energy scales,
detector calibration, and scintillation
modeling contribute 90% of
systematic error for sin2θ23
• In !e appearance analysis:
Detector calibration and response
contribute 50% of the systematic
error
NOvA Systematic Uncertainties
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 02/12

4. • Deploying a scaled-down version of NOvA detectors at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility (FTBF)
• The detector will be exposed to a new tertiary beam of pions, protons, muons, and electrons with
known energies
• Results from the test beam will be used to address energy-related and detector response
systematics
• Build a database of single particle topologies that can be used to tune reconstruction and future
neural network algorithms
NOvA Test Beam Program
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 03/12
Fermilab Test Beam Facility
Top view of Fermilab Test Beam Facility
Scaled-down NOvA detector
We are Here

5. NOvA Test Beam Program (Continued..)
• Directly address energy and detector
response systematics
• Provide an independent check of the
calibration chain
• Measure muon, hadron, and EM
response and compare with MC to
improve simulation accuracy
• Build a database of single particle
topologies that can be used to tune
reconstruction and future neural
network algorithms
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 04/12

6. • Use 120 GeV protons from the Main Injector to produce a secondary beam of mostly pions from 8-80 GeV
at Fermilab's MC7 test beam enclosure
• Upstream of beamline and NOvA detector is driven by secondary Cu target produced tertiary beam
• Tertiary beam makeup and momentum is tunable by varying the magnetic field and secondary beam
energy
• A scaled-down NOvA detector is used to sample tagged electrons, muons, pions and protons in the
momentum range of 0.3 to 2GeV/c
NOvA Test Beam Overview
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 05/12
1800 view of NOvA Test Beam at MC7 facility
Block diagram of NOvA Test Beam

7. • Liquid scintillator filled PVC cells in alternating
horizontal and vertical planes provides 3D particle
tracking.
• Cells contain a single loop of wavelength shifting
fiber viewed by pixels on an avalanche photodiode
(APD)
• this is identical technology to both other operating
NOvA detectors.
• studying the detector response and energy
resolutions of the NOvA detector in beam of well-
understood, tagged particles will enable a much
better understanding of the current NOvA detectors,
which will in turn help reduce calibration and
reconstruction uncertainties in the oscillation
analyses
• Test Beam Detector Specs:
• 63 planes of 64 cells
• Volume: 2.6 ✕ 2.6 ✕4.1 m3
• Full containment of μ up to 0.9 GeV
• containment of 2 GeV π- greater than 95%
longitudinal and greater than 98% transverse
Test Beam Detector
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 06/12
Replica of the NOvA detectors
A cell contain a single loop of
wavelength shifting fiber

8. • Single sweeping dipole magnet to select particle
momentum range with Maximum field of 1.8 T
• Time of flight sensors provide particle
identification with good separation between
protons and pions
• Cherenkov counter enables further separation of
electrons and 1 atm CO2 gives an electron
threshold energy E > 20 MeV
• Multiwire proportional chambers (MWPCs) in
conjunction with the sweeping magnet provide
momentum reconstruction
Particle Identification
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 07/12

9. Beamline Instrumentation
• Single sweeping dipole magnet to select particle momentum range. Maximum field of 1.8 T
• Time of flight sensors provide particle identification with good separation between protons and pions
• Time of flight system made of SIPMs and PMTs has length 13.2 m
• Around10 signal particles per spill and around100,000 per week
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 08/12

10. • The secondary beam composed of mostly pions from 8-80 GeV at Fermilab's MC7 test beam
enclosure
• Tertiary beam is made by hitting secondary beam on a copper target
• Expect to use 64 GeV secondary beam and pions and protons are the dominant
• Each spill will last 4.2 s
• Tertiary beam momentum is tunable (0.2-2.0 GeV) by varying the magnetic field and secondary
beam energy
Tertiary Beamline
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 09/12
1000 1500
Momentum (MeV)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
ParticleCountper1MBeamParticles
rms = 67 MeV
mean = 1022 MeV
total count = 11.1
proton (5.4)
pi+ (5.3)
mu+ (0.2)
K+ (0.1)
e+ (0.0)
16 GeV Secondary Beam
1000 1500
Momentum (MeV)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
ParticleCountper1MBeamParticles
rms = 65 MeV
mean = 1021 MeV
total count = 7.7
proton (4.9)
pi+ (2.5)
K+ (0.1)
mu+ (0.1)
e+ (0.0)
8 GeV Secondary Beam
1000 1500
Momentum (MeV)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
ParticleCountper1MBeamParticles
rms = 62 MeV
mean = 1023 MeV
total count = 22.4
pi+ (11.7)
proton (10.2)
e+ (0.3)
mu+ (0.2)
K+ (0.1)
64 GeV Secondary Beam
1000 1500
Momentum (MeV)
0
0.5
1
ParticleCountper1MBeamParticles
rms = 63 MeV
mean = 1022 MeV
total count = 17.0
pi+ (8.7)
proton (7.7)
K+ (0.3)
mu+ (0.2)
e+ (0.1)
32 GeV Secondary Beam

11. Summary
• The NOvA test beam program will start taking data during the beginning of May 2019
• The results obtained will be used to constrain the leading systematics
• Allow the calibration procedure to be tested in more detail
• Refine current particle identification methods
• Develop and train new techniques for identification, simulation and reconstruction
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 10/12
Stay tuned with the latest exciting news and results from
The NOvA test beam program..!

12. Backup
• First commissioning beamline data taken last weeks:
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 11/12
US-ToF
DS-ToF
Cherenkov
Counter
MWPCs
Bottom ViewEvent display (under construction)

13. Backup
• latest MWPC momentum estimate:
Chatura Kuruppu University of South Carolina APS APRIL 2019 12/12