Technical Design Report for the 8 GeV Beam

a level appropriate for a Critical Decision 3a review. Several components of the accelerator upgrade and new neutrino detectors also have advanced technical designs appropriate for a Critical Decision 3a review. Chapter 1 is an Executive Summary with a short description of the NOvA project. Chapter 2 describes how the Fermilab NuMI beam will provide a narrow band beam of neutrinos for NOvA. Chapter 3 gives an updated overview of the scientific basis for the NOvA experiment, focusing on the primary goal to extend the search for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillations and measure the sin{sup 2}(2{theta}{sub 13}) parameter. This parameter has not been measured in any previous experiment and NOvA would extend the search by about an order of magnitude beyond the current limit. A secondary goal is to measure the dominant mode oscillation parameters, sin{sup 2}(2{theta}{sub 23}) and {Delta}m{sub 32}{sup 2} to a more precise level than previous experiments. Additional physics goals for NOvA are also discussed. Chapter 4 describes the Scientific Design Criteria which the Fermilab accelerator complex, NOvA detectors and NOvA detector sites must satisfy to meet the physics goals discussed in Chapter 3. Chapter 5 is an overview of the NOvA project. The changes in the design relative to the NOvA CDR are discussed. Chapter 6 summarizes the NOvA design performance relative to the Design Criteria set out in Chapter 4. Chapter 7 presents the Work Breakdown Structure dictionary at Level 3 and the Milestone dictionary. Chapters 8 through 17 then take each Level 2 WBS element of the NOvA project and present each part of the design in more detail than the overview given in Chapter 5. Specific technical design criteria are delineated for each part of the project in addition to the scientific design criteria outlined in Chapter 4. Changes in the design since the NOvA CDR are discussed in detail. The work remaining to bring each part of this preliminary design to a final design is outlined. Appendix A is a guide to other NOvA Project documentation with links to those documents.