The ND280 Near Detectors of the T2K Experiment

The Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) experiment long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment is designed to improve the sensitivity to $\theta _{13}$ and to determine more accurately the ``atmospheric'' parameters $\theta _{23}$ and$\Delta $m$_{23}^{2}$. For this purpose a high intensity v$_{\mu }$ beam ($\sim $700 MeV peak energy) produced at the JPARC accelerator complex is directed towards the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector at a distance of 295 km. An off-axis near detector (ND280), 280 m from the production target, measures the energy spectrum, flavor content and neutral and charged current interaction rates of the unoscillated neutrino beam which are key sources of systematic uncertainty. Here I discuss the status of the ND280 near detectors and how they contribute to our ability to understand and constrain these systematic uncertainties.