Extrapolation Techniques and Systematic Uncertainties in the NO$\nu$A Muon Neutrino Disappearance Analysis

TL;DR

This paper discusses the extrapolation techniques and systematic uncertainties involved in the NOvA experiment's analysis of muon neutrino disappearance, providing insights into the methodology behind their initial measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters.

Contribution

It introduces the specific extrapolation methods and systematic uncertainty assessments used in NOvA's first muon neutrino disappearance analysis.

Findings

Measurement of ( heta_{23}) = 0.51 b1 0.10

Determination of  m_{32}^2 for normal hierarchy as 2.37^{+0.16}_{-0.15} imes 10^{-3} eV^2

Determination of  m_{32}^2 for inverted hierarchy as -2.40^{+0.14}_{-0.17} imes 10^{-3} eV^2

Abstract

The NOvA long-baseline neutrino experiment consists of two highly active, finely segmented, liquid scintillator detectors located 14.6 mrad off Fermilab's NuMI beam axis, with a Near Detector located at Fermilab, and a Far Detector located 810 km from the target at Ash River, MI. NO$\nu$A released it first preliminary results of the muon neutrino disappearance parameters, measuring $\sin^2(\theta_{23}) = 0.51 \pm 0.10$ and or the normal hierarchy $\Delta m^2_{32} = 2.37^{+0.16}_{-0.15} \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$ and for the inverted hierarchy $\Delta m^2_{32} = -2.40^{+0.14}_{-0.17} \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$. This talk will present a discussion of the systematic uncertainties and extrapolation methods used for this first analysis which uses $2.74\times10^{20}$ POT-equivalent collected between July 2013 and March 2015.