NOνA is collaboration of 181 scientists and engineers from 26 institutions which plans to study neutrino oscillations using the existing NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. The NOνA experiment is designed to search for oscillations of muon neutrinos to electron neutrinos by comparing the electron neutrino event rate measured at the Fermilab site with the electron neutrino event rate measured at a location just south of International Falls, MN 810 kilometers distant from Fermilab. If oscillations occur, the far site will see the appearance of electrons in the muon neutrino beam produced at Fermilab.
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| The NuMI neutrino beam starts at Fermilab and points toward the MINOS experiment in northern Minnesota. The NOνA detector site is just off the axis of this beam and to the north of MINOS. |
The NOνA project consists of three main elements:
An upgrade of the Fermilab accelerator complex Currently the Fermilab accelerators are capable of delivering 400 kW of beam power to the NuMI beam. As part of NOνA, this will be upgraded to 700 kW. Upgrades beyond 700 kW (to 1.2 MW or 2.3 MW) are being discussed.
A 222 metric-ton near detector will be placed in a new, small, underground cavern adjacent to the existing underground cavern that houses the MINOS experiment. The near detector will measure the electron-neutrino and non-electron neutrino backgrounds to the search for electron neutrino appearance.
A 15 metric-kiloton far detector will be located in a new facility located in Ash River, MN, just south of International Falls, MN and the U.S.-Canada border. The detector will be composed of 385,000 cells of extruded PVC plastic. Each cell is 3.9 cm wide by 6.0 cm deep and is 15.5 meters long. The cells are filled with 3.3 million gallons of liquid scintillator and scintillation light will be guided to APD photo-detectors using wavelength shifting fiber.
Construction of the experiment will be complete in January of 2014 and the first run will last 6 years.
