The Noνa Neutrino Experiment

Fermilab’s NOνA experiment is helping scientists determine the role that ghostly particles called neutrinos played in the evolution of the cosmos. NOνA uses a 300-ton particle detector at Fermilab (the near detector) and a 14,000-ton detector in northern Minnesota (the far detector) to study neutrino oscillations. The near detector sits in a cavern 100 meter underground and measures the composition of the neutrino beam as it leaves the Fermilab site. As they travel straight through the earth, the neutrinos oscillate. The far detector records what types of neutrino arrive in Minnesota. Experiment explores these particle interactions to better understand the transition of muon (anti-)neutrinos into electron (anti-)neutrinos and to understand questions as "What is the ordering of the neutrino masses?" and "What is the symmetry between matter and antimatter?" Experience from my term of run coordinator will also be briefly mentioned.