Paper

Measurement of single \\(\\pi^0\\) production by coherent neutral-current \\(\\nu\\) Fe interactions in the MINOS Near Detector

Flanagan, W, Torretta, D, Graf, N, Thomson, M A, Kreymer, A, Phan, D D, Gran, R, Toner, R, Moore, C D, Wojcicki, S G, Hartnell, J, Devan, A V, Hahn, S R, Irwin, G M, Newman, H B, Blake, A, Vahle, P, Zwaska, R, Bogert, D, Kordosky, M, Miller, W H, Carroll, T J, Grzelak, K, M M Pfutzner, Bock, G J, Phan-Budd, S, Paley, J, Jensen, D, Timmons, A, Qiu, X, Medeiros, M M, Viren, B, Diwan, M V, Sharma, R, Schneps, J, Ling, J, Barr, G, Poonthottathil, N, Cherdack, D, Castromonte, C M, O'Connor, J, Pawloski, G, Mualem, L, Oliver, W P, Radovic, A, Gouffon, P, Mayer, N, de Jong, J K, Escobar, C O, Habig, A, Cronin-Hennessy, D, Litchfield, P J, White, C, Holin, A, Gallagher, H R, McGivern, C, Gomes, R A, Mishra, S R, Tognini, S C, Kasahara, S M S, Orchanian, M, Tzanakos, G, Gabrielyan, M, Musser, J, Sail, P, Nowak, J A, Nichol, R J, Germani, S, Hatcher, R, Lang, K, Nelson, J K, Weber, A, Sousa, A, Mehdiyev, R, Hylen, J, Pahlka, R B, Sanchez, M C, Urheim, J, Whitehead, L H, Messier, M D, Isvan, Z, Rubin, H A, Goodman, M C, Frohne, M V, Perch, A, Marshak, M L, James, C, Rosenfeld, C, Adamson, P, Todd, J, S Moed Sher, Naples, D, Kafka, T, Rebel, B, Chen, R, Koizumi, G, Schreckenberger, A, C

2016

Overview

Forward single \\(\\pi^0\\) production by coherent neutral-current interactions, \\(\\nu \\mathcal{A} \\to \\nu \\mathcal{A} \\pi^0\\), is investigated using a 2.8\\(\\times 10^{20}\\) protons-on-target exposure of the MINOS Near Detector. For single-shower topologies, the event distribution in production angle exhibits a clear excess above the estimated background at very forward angles for visible energy in the range~1-8 GeV. Cross sections are obtained for the detector medium comprised of 80% iron and 20% carbon nuclei with \\(\\langle \\mathcal{A} \\rangle = 48\\), the highest-\\(\\langle \\mathcal{A} \\rangle\\) target used to date in the study of this coherent reaction. The total cross section for coherent neutral-current single-\\(\\pi^0\\) production initiated by the \\(\\nu_\\mu\\) flux of the NuMI low-energy beam with mean (mode) \\(E_{\\nu}\\) of 4.9 GeV (3.0 GeV), is \\(77.6\\pm5.0\\,(\\text{stat}) ^{+15.0}_{-16.8}\\,(\\text{syst})\\times10^{-40}\\,\\text{cm}^2~\\text{per nucleus}\\). The results are in good agreement with predictions of the Berger-Sehgal model.

• Publisher: Cornell University Library, arXiv.org
• Subject: Coherence / Iron / Nuclear cross sections / Nuclei (nuclear physics) / Sensors / Topology