Constraints on neutrino oscillation parameters with the NOvA experiment
NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment, which consists of two finely-segmented liquid-scintillator detectorsoperating 14 mrad off-axis from the NuMI muon neutrino beam. With an 810 km baseline, the combined measurements of muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance allow the determination of neutrino oscillation unknowns, namely the mass hierarchy, the octant of the largest neutrino mixing angle, and the CP violating phase.In this dissertation, I present the joint analysis of $$\nu_\mu\to\nu_\mu$$ and $$\nu_mu\to\nu_e$$ oscillation data with an exposure of$$8.85\times10^{20}$$ protons on target on the 14 kton detector. It includes the estimation of neutrino energy distributions in the fardetector using near detector data constraints, details of the implementation of the simultaneous fit of \numu and \nue samples, andthe effect of systematic uncertainties on the measurement of oscillation parameters. I also discuss NOvA's projected sensitivity to determine the mass hierarchy and discover CP violation in future analyses with increased exposure and the addition ofantineutrino datasets.With 66 electron neutrino and 126 muon neutrino candidates, the bestfit to the data corresponds to the normal mass hierarchy, $$\Delta m^2_{32}=2.44\times 10^{-3} eV^2/c^4$$, $$\sin^2\theta_{23}=0.56$$,and $$\delta_{CP} = 1.21\pi$$, with the allowed regions $$\Delta m^2_{32} \in[2.37,2.52]\times 10^{-3} eV^2/c^4$$, $$\sin^2\theta_{23} \in [0.43,0.51] \cup[0.52,0.60]$$ and $$\delta_{CP} \in [0,0.12\pi] \cup [0.91\pi,2\pi]$$ at the68.3\% C.L. Our data disfavor maximal mixing by 0.8$$\sigma$$, $$\delta_{CP}= \pi/2$$ in the inverted hierarchy at higher than 3$$\sigma$$, and theentire inverted mass hierarchy at the 95\% confidence level.
- Research Organization:
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- OSTI ID:
- 1712775
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-THESIS-2018-40; oai:inspirehep.net:1790362
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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