First measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance in NOvA

Abstract

This paper reports the first measurement using the NOvA detectors of νμ disappearance in a νμ beam. The analysis uses a 14 kton-equivalent exposure of 2.74×1020 protons-on-target from the Fermilab NuMI beam. Assuming the normal neutrino mass hierarchy, we measure Δm322=(2.52-0.18+0.20)×10-3 eV2 and sin2θ23 in the range 0.38-0.65, both at the 68% confidence level, with two statistically degenerate best-fit points at sin2θ23=0.43 and 0.60. Results for the inverted mass hierarchy are also presented.