The ArgoNeuT collaboration presents measurements of inclusive muon neutrino and antineutrino charged current differential cross sections on argon in the Fermilab NuMI beam operating in the low energy antineutrino mode. The results are reported in terms of outgoing muon angle and momentum at a mean neutrino energy of 9.6 GeV (neutrinos) and 3.6 GeV (antineutrinos), in the range $0^\circ < \theta_\mu < 36^\circ$ and $0 < p_\mu < 25$ GeV/$c$, for both neutrinos and antineutrinos.
We have found 122 charmed-particle decays among 3855 neutrino interactions located in the fiducial volume of a hybrid emulsion spectrometer installed in the Fermilab wide-band neutrino beam. We obtain an average relative charmed-particle production cross section of σ(ν μ → c μ − ) σ(ν μ →μ − ) =4.9 −0.6 +0.7 % , at an average neutrino energy of 22 GeV. We also obtain a production rate of σ(ν μ → c c ν μ ) σ(ν μ →ν μ ) =0.13 −0.11 +0.31 % , if we assume that there was an undetected muon, a limit of σ(ν μ → c c μ − ) σ(ν μ → c μ − )<3% (90% CL ) can be obtained. Other cross section ratios and limits are also presented.
We present results on the experimental study of inelastic charged-current antineutrino-nucleon scattering in the energy range of 10–200 GeV. The data sample, consisting of about 6500 antineutrino-induced events, was obtained in the Fermilab 15 ft bubble chamber filled with a heavy neon-hydrogen mixture. The differential cross sections for ν μ N interactions are presented in terms of scaling variables x and y . The structure functions F 2 ν and xF 3 ν have been evaluated as functions of x and E ν . A deviation from the scaling hypothesis, similar to those found in other experiments on inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering, has been observed. The data are interpreted in the framework of the quark-parton model. Quark and antiquark distributions and their energy dependences are presented.
The first observation of μ + e + events produced in antineutrino interactions using the Fermilab 15 ft bubble chamber is reported. The relative yield of μ + e + events is (4.8 −3.2 +5.3 ) × 10 −4 of all charged-current events with antineutrino energy greater than 10 GeV. The observed V 0 rate is 1.0 −1.0 +1.2 per μ + e + event. Possible sources of these events are discussed.
We have studied transverse momenta of charged hadrons in the current fragmentation region of charged current antineutrino- nucleon interactions observed in the Fermilab 15 ft bubble chamber. The measured momentum squared transverse to the v μ + plane (p out 2 ) of the negative hadrons varies as a function of Q 2 , W 2 and x as expected from t he leading order perturbative QCD calculations. Positively charged hadrons show a different transverse momentum behaviour as a function of Q 2 .
We have used the ratio between the production rates of $K^0$'s and $π^−$'s in antineutrino-nucleon interactions in the Fermilab 15 ft bubble chamber to measure the size of the SU (3) symmetry violation in the production of quark-antiquark pairs to be 0.27 ± 0.04. This value is significantly larger than the value obtained from a recent ep experiment. There is no apparent dependence of the $K^0$/$π^−$ ratio with $W^2 , Q ^2 , x_b$ or $p_T^2$ .
Two different nuclear-medium effects are isolated using a low three-momentum transfer subsample of neutrino-carbon scattering data from the MINERvA neutrino experiment. The observed hadronic energy in charged-current $\nu_\mu$ interactions is combined with muon kinematics to permit separation of the quasielastic and $\Delta$(1232) resonance processes. First, we observe a small cross section at very low energy transfer that matches the expected screening effect of long-range nucleon correlations. Second, additions to the event rate in the kinematic region between the quasielastic and $\Delta$ resonance processes are needed to describe the data. The data in this kinematic region also has an enhanced population of multi-proton final states. Contributions predicted for scattering from a nucleon pair have both properties; the model tested in this analysis is a significant improvement but does not fully describe the data. We present the results as a double-differential cross section to enable further investigation of nuclear models. Improved description of the effects of the nuclear environment are required by current and future neutrino oscillation experiments.
Single neutral pion production via muon antineutrino charged-current interactions in plastic scintillator (CH) is studied using the \minerva detector exposed to the NuMI low-energy, wideband antineutrino beam at Fermilab. Measurement of this process constrains models of neutral pion production in nuclei, which is important because the neutral-current analog is a background for $\bar{\nu}_e$ appearance oscillation experiments. The differential cross sections for $\pi^0$ momentum and production angle, for events with a single observed $\pi^0$ and no charged pions, are presented and compared to model predictions. These results comprise the first measurement of the $\pi^0$ kinematics for this process.
The largest sample ever recorded of $\numub$ charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE, $\numub + p \to \mup + n$) candidate events is used to produce the minimally model-dependent, flux-integrated double-differential cross section $\frac{d^{2}\sigma}{dT_\mu d\uz}$ for $\numub$ incident on mineral oil. This measurement exploits the unprecedented statistics of the MiniBooNE anti-neutrino mode sample and provides the most complete information of this process to date. Also given to facilitate historical comparisons are the flux-unfolded total cross section $\sigma(E_\nu)$ and single-differential cross section $\frac{d\sigma}{d\qsq}$ on both mineral oil and on carbon by subtracting the $\numub$ CCQE events on hydrogen. The observed cross section is somewhat higher than the predicted cross section from a model assuming independently-acting nucleons in carbon with canonical form factor values. The shape of the data are also discrepant with this model. These results have implications for intra-nuclear processes and can help constrain signal and background processes for future neutrino oscillation measurements.
We present measurements of the semi-inclusive cross sections for νμ- and ν¯μ-nucleon deep inelastic scattering interactions with two oppositely charged muons in the final state. These events dominantly arise from the production of a charm quark during the scattering process. The measurement was obtained from the analysis of 5102 νμ-induced and 1458 ν¯μ-induced events collected with the NuTeV detector exposed to a sign-selected beam at the Fermilab Tevatron. We also extract a cross-section measurement from a reanalysis of 5030 νμ-induced and 1060 ν¯μ-induced events collected from the exposure of the same detector to a quad-triplet beam by the Chicago Columbia Fermilab Rochester (CCFR) experiment. The results are combined to obtain the most statistically precise measurement of neutrino-induced dimuon production cross sections to date. These measurements should be of broad use to phenomenologists interested in the dynamics of charm production, the strangeness content of the nucleon, and the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element Vcd.