arXiv subjects

K. Dever

Publications and source records attributed to K. Dever.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The NOvA Test Beam Experiment

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment designed to study the neutrino mixing parameters, mass ordering, and CP violation in the lepton sector. A key component of the success of the experiment is a robust understanding of the systematic uncertainties associated with detector response and calibration. To address this, NOvA deployed a Test Beam experiment at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility, which collected data from April 2019 through July 2022. The NOvA Test Beam experiment used a 30-ton segmented liquid scintillator detector functionally identical to the NOvA Near and Far Detectors to analyze tagged particles produced from p-Cu collisions, with instrumentation capable of selecting and identifying electrons, muons, pions, kaons, and protons with momentum ranging from 0.4-1.5GeV/c. Analysis of the collected data provides a better understanding of the largest systematic uncertainties impacting NOvA's analyses, which include the detector response, energy calibration, and hadronic and electromagnetic energy resolutions.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2026

NOvA Dual-Baseline Search for Active-to-Sterile Neutrino Oscillations using Neutrino- and Antineutrino-Enriched Samples

We report a search for neutrino oscillations to sterile neutrinos in the NOvA detectors under a model with three active and one sterile neutrinos. This search simultaneously fits data in the two NOvA detectors and is the first from NOvA to use both neutrino- and antineutrino-mode beams, with exposures of $26.61\times10^{20}$ and $12.50\times10^{20}$ protons on target, respectively. There is no evidence for sterile neutrinos in the data and we are able to exclude regions of parameter space that were allowed by previous experiments, including most of the allowed region reported by IceCube.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2026

Neutron detector response modeling in NOvA

Neutrons can present a significant challenge for neutrino experiments in which energy reconstruction is critical. With the ability to escape detection completely and with a weak correlation between their kinetic energy and any eventual energy deposition, it is difficult to fully account for neutrons produced in neutrino interactions. This in turn leads to significant model dependence when evaluating neutron-related systematic uncertainties. The NOvA experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment with a high-statistics sample of antineutrino data collected by its near detector. We report an excess relative to data of simulated neutron candidates with low energy depositions when using standard Geant4 physics lists. The simulation excess is traced to an overabundance of secondary photons produced from interactions of neutrons with kinetic energy greater than \SI{20}{\mega\eV}. Improved agreement with data is obtained by applying the data-driven neutron-on-carbon \menate model for neutrons between \SI{20}{\mega\eV} and ${\sim}$\SI{100}{\mega\eV}. With \menate, the residual oversimulation is more uniform across the calorimetric neutron energy spectrum, suggesting possible overproduction of primary neutrons by the GENIE neutrino interaction generator. These results motivate the adoption of \menate-supplemented Geant4 simulation as the nominal simulation in the production of future \nova simulation.

hep-ex↗