The fully active scintillator target is surrounded by nuclear targets and calorimeters. Interactions in the scintillator (CHn) can be compared with interactions in the upstream Pb and Fe targets to probe nuclear effects.

The MINERνA detector takes advantage of the unprecedented high intensity of the NuMI neutrino beam to build a detector capable of full reconstruction of exclusivefinal states.

ECAL

HCAL

Fully ActiveScintillating Strips

Front CAL &Nuclear Targets

Veto side ECAL

side HCAL

Detector Overview

Topological reconstruction is supplemented by particle ID based on dE/dx, hermetic calorimetry, and charge identification for long muons and the ability to tag long-lived (strange) final-states with nanosecond hit timing.

The fine grained, fully active central region allows excellent spatial and directional resolution.

Sample π0 production:νµp→νµpπ0

Photon tracks distinguished and vertexed.

Sample quasi-elastic event:νµn→pµ-

Proton and muon tracks resolved andenergy deposited shown as size of hit.

Sample Events

Beam and Data Sample

MINERνA will run symbioticallyin the NuMI beam constructedfor the MINOS experiment. This intense beam, with adjustable horns, offers an energy reach from approximately 1Gev to 25Gev.

The MIPP experiment willmeasure hadron production from the NuMI target, allowingthe neutrino flux and spectrum to be determined with unprecedented accuracy for absolute cross sectionstudies.

288k940kTotal4.2k8.3kCoherent125k420kDIS65k210kTransition70k196kResonant42k103kElasticNCCCEvents/ton

OD

ECAL

Modular Construction:For flexibility of design and ease of installation in the NuMI near hall, the detector is built in planes. Calorimetersabsorbers are thin radiators covering scintillating strips.Shown is an upstream ECAL module, side view and magnification.

Active elements are triangular bars of extruded scintillator with embedded WLS fibers that run to PMT boxes and then are readout on front-end electronic boards.

extruded scintillator

Pb+20%Fe

Detector Elements

Dortmund, Germany – E.Paschos; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory – M.Andrews, D.Boehnlein, N.Grossman, D.A.Harris#, J.G.Morfin*, A.Pla-Dalmau, P.Rubinov, P.Shanahan, P.Spentzouris; Hampton University – M.E.Christy, W.Hinton, C.E.Keppel; Illinois Institute of Technology - R.Burnstein, O.Kamaev, N.Solomey; Institute for Nuclear Study, Russia –

R.Bradford, H.Budd, J.Chvojka, P.De Barbaro, S.Manly, K.McFarland*, J.Park, W.Sakumoto, J.Steinman; Rutgers University – R.Gilman, C.Glashausser, X.Jiang, G.Kumbartzki, R.Ransome, E.Schulte;

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Red - Theory

Proposal and Addendum located at hep-ex/0405002

April 2004 – Stage I approval from FNAL PAC

October 2004 – Complete first Vertical Slice Test with MINERνA extrusions, WLS fiber and Front-End electronics

January 2005 – First Project Director’s (‘Temple’) Review

Summer 2005 – Second Vertical Slice Test

End CY 2005 – Projected Date for MINERvA Project Baseline Review

October 2006 – Start of Construction

Summer 2008 – Begin MINERvA Installation and Commissioning in NuMI Near Hall

MINERνA Status and Projected Milestones

Measurements of quasi-elastic neutrinoscattering in MINERνA will allow a precise measurement of the axial formfactor of the proton as a function of Q2.

Precision measurement of coherent pion production will allow the firstmeasurement of the A-dependence ofthis process. Coherent π0 productionis a background to νe searches.

Hadronic/Nuclear PhysicsWith MINERνA

Below: World data on charged current coherent pion production, with the prediction of the Rein-Sehgal model. Available data do not coverthe range of nuclei used in modern detectors, and in the few-GeV regime are limited to two Measurements with almost 100% errors.Even for quasi-elastic scattering, experimental uncertainties due to the nucleon form factor and nuclear effects are relatively large.

Above: Existing data on charged current single pion production with predictions from the Neugen simulation. The data are characterized by small statistical power, undocumented corrections for nuclear effects, and uncertain absolute normalization. The poor agreements between different measurements reflects these problems. Data on exclusive multi-pion and strange particle production and neutral currents is even more limited. The transition between resonant and DIS regimes is likewise very poorly understood.

Existing Cross-Section Data

Pion production contaminates kinematic reconstruction of neutrino energy in K2K and T2K,limiting precision measurements of Δm2

23 and sin22θ23. Cross-section uncertainties and final-stateinteractions smear Evis→Eν calibration forMINOS and NOνA as well.

Oscillation changes the mixtureof reaction types between nearand far detectors – an importantsource of systematicuncertainty.

Oscillation Physics: Motivation

Dortmund, Germany – E.Paschos; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory – M.Andrews, D.Boehnlein, N.Grossman, D.A.Harris#, J.G.Morfin*, A.Pla-Dalmau, P.Rubinov, P.Shanahan, P.Spentzouris; Hampton University – M.E.Christy, W.Hinton, C.E.Keppel; Illinois Institute of Technology - R.Burnstein, O.Kamaev, N.Solomey; Institute for Nuclear Study, Russia –

R.Bradford, H.Budd, J.Chvojka, P.De Barbaro, S.Manly, K.McFarland*, J.Park, W.Sakumoto, J.Steinman; Rutgers University – R.Gilman, C.Glashausser, X.Jiang, G.Kumbartzki, R.Ransome, E.Schulte;

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Red - Theory

Proposal and Addendum located at hep-ex/0405002

The plot at left shows a case study of a search for θ13 with the proposed NOνAexperiment. Without better understandingof the backgrounds, provided by MINERνA,the experiment will be limited bysystematics for values of θ13 close to the CHOOZ bound.

The plot at right shows a case study ofMINERνA’s ability to improve the precisionmeasurement of Δm2

23 by reducing systematicuncertainties in the neutrino energyreconstruction. With better understanding ofhadron production and final-state interactions,MINOS can achieve a sensitivity comparable To double the planned number of protons on target without MINERνA.

Oscillation Physics: Impact

for 2004 NOνA design, hep-ex/41005