Insights from NOvA Test Beam Proton Studies

The NOvA (NUMI Off-Axis electron neutrino Appearance) Experiment is a long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment at Fermilab, comprising a 300-ton Near Detector (ND) near the beam source and a 14-kton Far Detector (FD) in Ash River, Minnesota, 810 km away. Both detectors are 14 mrad off-axis from the neutrino beam. The experiment aims to determine the neutrino mass ordering, make precise measurent of neutrino mixing parameters, and investigate potential CP violation in the lepton sector by studying (anti) neutrino flavor oscillations.

Systematic uncertainities heavily influence the measurement of oscillation parameters. To adress this, the NOvA Test Beam program was established to ensure a better understanding of detector response to charged particles (electrons, protons, pions, and kaons). The NOvA Test Beam program used a scaled-down 30-ton version equipped with both FD and ND technologies to take data at Fermilab's Test Beam Facility from 2019-2021. Analysis of this data is currently ongoing. In this presentation, I will discuss my exploration of reducing uncertainites using Test Beam protons, presenting some preliminary results.