43 research outputs found
Search for multimessenger signals in NOvA coincident with LIGO/Virgo detections
Using the NOvA neutrino detectors, a broad search has been performed for any signal coincident with 28 gravitational wave events detected by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration between September 2015 and July 2019. For all of these events, NOvA is sensitive to possible arrival of neutrinos and cosmic rays of GeV and higher energies. For five (seven) events in the NOvA Far (Near) Detector, timely public alerts from the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration allowed recording of MeV-scale events. No signal candidates were found
Search for multimessenger signals in NOvA coincident with LIGO/Virgo detections
Using the NOvA neutrino detectors, a broad search has been performed for any signal coincident with 28 gravitational wave events detected by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration between September 2015 and July 2019. For all of these events, NOvA is sensitive to possible arrival of neutrinos and cosmic rays of GeV and higher energies. For five (seven) events in the NOvA Far (Near) Detector, timely public alerts from the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration allowed recording of MeV-scale events. No signal candidates were found
Measurement of neutrino-induced neutral-current coherent π⁰ production in the NOvA near detector
The cross section of neutrino-induced neutral-current coherent π⁰ production on a carbon-dominated target is measured in the NOvA near detector. This measurement uses a narrow-band neutrino beam with an average neutrino energy of 2.7 GeV, which is of interest to ongoing and future long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. The measured, flux-averaged cross section is σ = 13.8±0.9(stat)±2.3(syst)×10⁻⁴⁰ cm²/nucleus, consistent with model prediction. This result is the most precise measurement of neutral-current coherent π⁰ production in the few-GeV neutrino energy region
Measurement of neutrino-induced neutral-current coherent π⁰ production in the NOvA near detector
The cross section of neutrino-induced neutral-current coherent π⁰ production on a carbon-dominated target is measured in the NOvA near detector. This measurement uses a narrow-band neutrino beam with an average neutrino energy of 2.7 GeV, which is of interest to ongoing and future long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. The measured, flux-averaged cross section is σ = 13.8±0.9(stat)±2.3(syst)×10⁻⁴⁰ cm²/nucleus, consistent with model prediction. This result is the most precise measurement of neutral-current coherent π⁰ production in the few-GeV neutrino energy region
Seasonal Variation of Multiple-Muon Cosmic Ray Air Showers Observed in the NOvA Detector on the Surface
We report the rate of cosmic ray air showers with multiplicities exceeding 15
muon tracks recorded in the NOvA Far Detector between May 2016 and May 2018.
The detector is located on the surface under an overburden of 3.6 meters water
equivalent. We observe a seasonal dependence in the rate of multiple-muon
showers, which varies in magnitude with multiplicity and zenith angle. During
this period, the effective atmospheric temperature and surface pressure ranged
between 210 K to 230 K and 940mbar to 990mbar, respectively; the shower rates
are anti-correlated with the variation in the effective temperature. The
variations are about 30% larger for the highest multiplicities than the lowest
multiplicities and 20% larger for showers near the horizon than vertical
showers
Measurement of the Double-Differential Muon-neutrino Charged-Current Inclusive Cross Section in the NOvA Near Detector
We report cross-section measurements of the final-state muon kinematics for
\numu charged-current interactions in the NOvA near detector using an
accumulated 8.09 protons-on-target (POT) in the NuMI beam. We
present the results as a double-differential cross section in the observed
outgoing muon energy and angle, as well as single-differential cross sections
in the derived neutrino energy, , and square of the four-momentum
transfer, . We compare the results to inclusive cross-section predictions
from various neutrino event generators via calculations using a
covariance matrix that accounts for bin-to-bin correlations of systematic
uncertainties. These comparisons show a clear discrepancy between the data and
each of the tested predictions at forward muon angle and low , indicating
a missing suppression of the cross section in current neutrino-nucleus
scattering models
Supernova neutrino detection in NOvA
The NOvA long-baseline neutrino experiment uses a pair of large, segmented, liquid-scintillator calorimeters to study neutrino oscillations, using GeV-scale neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI beam. These detectors are also sensitive to the flux of neutrinos which are emitted during a core-collapse supernova through inverse beta decay interactions on carbon at energies of O(10 MeV). This signature provides a means to study the dominant mode of energy release for a core-collapse supernova occurring in our galaxy. We describe the data-driven software trigger system developed and employed by the NOvA experiment to identify and record neutrino data from nearby galactic supernovae. This technique has been used by NOvA to self-trigger on potential core-collapse supernovae in our galaxy, with an estimated sensitivity reaching out to 10 kpc distance while achieving a detection efficiency of 23% to 49% for supernovae from progenitor stars with masses of 9.6 M_⊙ to 27 M_⊙, respectively
Extended search for supernova-like neutrinos in NOvA coincident with LIGO/Virgo detections
A search is performed for supernova-like neutrino interactions coincident
with 76 gravitational wave events detected by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration. For
40 of these events, full readout of the time around the gravitational wave is
available from the NOvA Far Detector. For these events, we set limits on the
fluence of the sum of all neutrino flavors of at 90% C.L. assuming energy and time distributions
corresponding to the Garching supernova models with masses
9.6(27). Under the hypothesis that any given gravitational
wave event was caused by a supernova, this corresponds to a distance of kpc at 90% C.L. Weaker limits are set for other gravitational wave
events with partial Far Detector data and/or Near Detector data.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure