MINERvA Status and Event Reconstruction

TL;DR

MINERvA is a neutrino scattering experiment using a fine-grained detector to study neutrino interactions and nuclear effects, providing valuable data for neutrino oscillation research and nuclear physics.

Contribution

This paper reports the initial operation status and event reconstruction progress of MINERvA, highlighting its capabilities and early data distributions.

Findings

Initial kinematic distributions provided

Operational status summarized

Event reconstruction techniques discussed

Abstract

MINERvA (Main INjector ExpeRiment v-A) is a few-GeV neutrino scattering experiment that began taking data in the NuMI beam at Fermilab (FNAL) in the Fall of 2009. MINERvA employs a fine-grained detector, with an eight ton active target region composed of plastic scintillator. It also uses nuclear targets composed of carbon, iron, and lead placed upstream of the active region to measure v-A dependence. The experiment will provide important inputs for neutrino oscillation experiments and a pure weak probe of nuclear structure. We offer a set of initial kinematic distributions of interest and provide a summary of current operations and event reconstruction status. Contribution to NUFACT 11, XIIIth International Workshop on Neutrino Factories, Super beams and Beta beams, 1-6 August 2011, CERN and University of Geneva .