Probing neutrino oscillations at the NOvA experiment

The oscillations of neutrinos are a fascinating phenomena that provide critical evidence for physics beyond the standard model. Neutrinos come in three different flavors, each associated with its corresponding charged lepton companion. The principle of superposition allows these flavor states to be orthogonal combinations of three definite mass eigenstates which evolve at varying rates, such that a neutrino originally produced as one flavor might later be observed interacting as a different flavor. Many questions have been raised as a result, and thus several experiments now seek to study neutrinos and their oscillations to better enhance our understanding; herein presents NOvA’s approach.

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that measures neutrinos originating from Fermilab's NuMI beamline. NOvA uses a combination of a near detector located at Fermilab and a far detector located in Ash River, MN. Neutrino oscillation is detected at NOvA by observing a combination of electron neutrino appearance and muon neutrino disappearance in the far detector. This poster discusses NOvA’s approach to probing the three-flavor neutrino oscillations, highlighting some preliminary studies undertaken to consider matter effect modifications.