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[PAST EVENT] Physics Colloquium - Erika Catano-Mur
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Erika Catano-Mur, William & Mary Physics, Title of Talk: Status and Prospects for the NOvA Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment
Abstract: The discovery of neutrino mixing and oscillations, and its implication of non-zero neutrino masses, is clear evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. For the past three decades, neutrino oscillation experiments continuously advanced our knowledge, and have now reached the age of precision measurements. Still, many questions remain: How are the masses ordered? Do neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate differently? Is the three-flavor picture of neutrino mixing complete? Long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiments can search for the answers. The NOvA experiment has been collecting data since 2014, using two tracking calorimeters and Fermilab’s NuMI neutrino beam. Projected to continue through 2026, the data analyzed so far constitute about half of NOvA’s run plan. In this talk, I discuss NOvA’s strategy and recent measurements of long-baseline neutrino oscillations, in the three-flavor paradigm and beyond.