Tracking Detector Performance and Data Quality in the NOvA Experiment

TL;DR

This paper discusses the methods and systems used to monitor detector performance and ensure data quality in the NOvA neutrino experiment, crucial for accurate measurements of neutrino oscillations.

Contribution

It introduces automated monitoring techniques and systems for detector performance and data quality in the NOvA experiment.

Findings

Effective detection of hardware and data acquisition issues

Improved data quality assurance processes

Enhanced reliability of neutrino measurement data

Abstract

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. It uses the NuMI beam from Fermilab and two sampling calorimeter detectors located off-axis from the beam. The NOvA experiment measures the rate of electron-neutrino appearance in the almost pure muon-neutrino NuMI beam, with the data measured at the Near Detector being used to accurately determine the expected rate at the Far Detector. It is very important to have automated and accurate monitoring of the data recorded by the detectors so any hardware, DAQ or beam issues arising in the 344k (20k) channels of the Far (Near) detector which could affect the quality of the data taking are determined. This paper will cover the techniques and detector monitoring systems in various stages of data taking.