NOvA Neutron Test Beam

The Fermilab Test Beam Facility is dedicated to detector research, and in our
case: The NOvA detectors. The goal of R&D on a test beam is to further
calibrate and understand how the particles we are ultimately studying behave
inside the detector (protons, pions, kaons, etc.). Results from NOvA heavily rely
upon electrically charged particles emitting energy. However, there is no known
experimental set up that allows us to explore neutron interactions in the
detector, due to a neutron’s neutral charge. The purpose of this experiment is to
build a tagged neutron beam inside a particle simulator: G4beamline, with the
goal of being able to use charged particles to infer the momentum of the
neutrons.