Speaker
Description
The Water Cherenkov Test Experiment (WCTE) was a 30-ton water Cherenkov detector built in the CERN East Area T9 beam line to receive a flux of electrons, muons, charged pions, and protons ranging in momentum from 100-1200 MeV/c. It was designed and implemented with two primary goals in mind. First, it served as a test-bed for technologies developed for the Hyper-Kamiokande and Intermediate Water Cherenkov detectors: multi-PMT modules, LED and deployable calibration systems, and water quality monitoring systems. Second, as the first ever water-Cherenkov detector built in a fully characterised beam, it provided an opportunity for a direct measurement of physics interactions relevant to charged particles in-water. In support of these physics goals, an array of beam monitors allowed for the measurement of particle momentum and particle identity just upstream of the detector. Each of these elements are integral in pursuit of sub-1% level systematic uncertainties in GeV-scale neutrino interactions in water. Here we present an overview of the WCTE itself, its physics goals, the data-taking campaign, and its potential to enhance our future measurements in studies of neutrino oscillations.