Evidence for Neutral-Current Diffractive π0 Production from Hydrogen in Neutrino Interactions on Hydrocarbon

J. Wolcott; L. Aliaga; O. Altinok; A. Bercellie; M. Betancourt; A. Bodek; A. Bravar; H. Budd; T. Cai; M. F. Carneiro; J. Chvojka; H. Da Motta; J. Devan; S. A. Dytman; G. A. Díaz; B. Eberly; E. Endress; J. Felix; L. Fields; R. Fine; R. Galindo; H. Gallagher; T. Golan; R. Gran; D. A. Harris; A. Higuera; K. Hurtado; M. Kiveni; J. Kleykamp; M. Kordosky; T. Le; E. Maher; S. Manly; W. A. Mann; C. M. Marshall; D. A. Martinez Caicedo; K. S. McFarland; C. L. McGivern; A. M. McGowan; B. Messerly; J. Miller; A. Mislivec; J. G. Morfín; J. Mousseau; D. Naples; J. K. Nelson; A. Norrick; Nuruzzaman; J. Osta; V. Paolone; MINERvA Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.111801

Evidence for Neutral-Current Diffractive π0 Production from Hydrogen in Neutrino Interactions on Hydrocarbon

J. Wolcott, L. Aliaga, O. Altinok, A. Bercellie, M. Betancourt, A. Bodek, A. Bravar, H. Budd, T. Cai, M. F. Carneiro, J. Chvojka, H. Da Motta, J. Devan, S. A. Dytman, G. A. Díaz, B. Eberly, E. Endress, J. Felix, L. Fields, R. FineR. Galindo, H. Gallagher, T. Golan, R. Gran, D. A. Harris, A. Higuera, K. Hurtado, M. Kiveni, J. Kleykamp, M. Kordosky, T. Le, E. Maher, S. Manly, W. A. Mann, C. M. Marshall, D. A. Martinez Caicedo, K. S. McFarland, C. L. McGivern, A. M. McGowan, B. Messerly, J. Miller, A. Mislivec, J. G. Morfín, J. Mousseau, D. Naples, J. K. Nelson, A. Norrick, Nuruzzaman, J. Osta, V. Paolone, MINERvA Collaboration

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Abstract

The MINERvA experiment observes an excess of events containing electromagnetic showers relative to the expectation from Monte Carlo simulations in neutral-current neutrino interactions with mean beam energy of 4.5 GeV on a hydrocarbon target. The excess is characterized and found to be consistent with neutral-current π0 production with a broad energy distribution peaking at 7 GeV and a total cross section of 0.26±0.02(stat.)±0.08(sys.)×10-39 cm2. The angular distribution, electromagnetic shower energy, and spatial distribution of the energy depositions of the excess are consistent with expectations from neutrino neutral-current diffractive π0 production from hydrogen in the hydrocarbon target. These data comprise the first direct experimental observation and constraint for a reaction that poses an important background process in neutrino-oscillation experiments searching for νμ to νe oscillations.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	111801
Journal	Physical review letters
Volume	117
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.111801
State	Published - Sep 7 2016

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory under U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Award No. DE-AC02-07CH11359, which included the MINERvA construction project. Construction support was also granted by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. PHY-0619727 and by the University of Rochester. Support for participating scientists was provided by the NSF and DOE (USA), CAPES and CNPq (Brazil), CoNaCyT (Mexico), CONICYT (Chile), CONCYTEC, DGI-PUCP, and IDI/IGI-UNI (Peru), and Latin American Center for Physics (CLAF). We thank the MINOS Collaboration for use of its near detector data. We acknowledge the dedicated work of the Fermilab staff responsible for the operation and maintenance of the NuMI beam line, MINERvA, and MINOS detectors and the physical and software environments that support scientific computing at Fermilab.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Physical Society.

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Wolcott, J., Aliaga, L., Altinok, O., Bercellie, A., Betancourt, M., Bodek, A., Bravar, A., Budd, H., Cai, T., Carneiro, M. F., Chvojka, J., Da Motta, H., Devan, J., Dytman, S. A., Díaz, G. A., Eberly, B., Endress, E., Felix, J., Fields, L., ... MINERvA Collaboration (2016). Evidence for Neutral-Current Diffractive π0 Production from Hydrogen in Neutrino Interactions on Hydrocarbon. Physical review letters, 117(11), [111801]. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.111801

Wolcott, J, Aliaga, L, Altinok, O, Bercellie, A, Betancourt, M, Bodek, A, Bravar, A, Budd, H, Cai, T, Carneiro, MF, Chvojka, J, Da Motta, H, Devan, J, Dytman, SA, Díaz, GA, Eberly, B, Endress, E, Felix, J, Fields, L, Fine, R, Galindo, R, Gallagher, H, Golan, T, Gran, R, Harris, DA, Higuera, A, Hurtado, K, Kiveni, M, Kleykamp, J, Kordosky, M, Le, T, Maher, E, Manly, S, Mann, WA, Marshall, CM, Martinez Caicedo, DA, McFarland, KS, McGivern, CL, McGowan, AM, Messerly, B, Miller, J, Mislivec, A, Morfín, JG, Mousseau, J, Naples, D, Nelson, JK, Norrick, A, Nuruzzaman, Osta, J, Paolone, V & MINERvA Collaboration 2016, 'Evidence for Neutral-Current Diffractive π0 Production from Hydrogen in Neutrino Interactions on Hydrocarbon', Physical review letters, vol. 117, no. 11, 111801. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.111801

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title = "Evidence for Neutral-Current Diffractive π0 Production from Hydrogen in Neutrino Interactions on Hydrocarbon",

abstract = "The MINERvA experiment observes an excess of events containing electromagnetic showers relative to the expectation from Monte Carlo simulations in neutral-current neutrino interactions with mean beam energy of 4.5 GeV on a hydrocarbon target. The excess is characterized and found to be consistent with neutral-current π0 production with a broad energy distribution peaking at 7 GeV and a total cross section of 0.26±0.02(stat.)±0.08(sys.)×10-39 cm2. The angular distribution, electromagnetic shower energy, and spatial distribution of the energy depositions of the excess are consistent with expectations from neutrino neutral-current diffractive π0 production from hydrogen in the hydrocarbon target. These data comprise the first direct experimental observation and constraint for a reaction that poses an important background process in neutrino-oscillation experiments searching for νμ to νe oscillations.",

author = "J. Wolcott and L. Aliaga and O. Altinok and A. Bercellie and M. Betancourt and A. Bodek and A. Bravar and H. Budd and T. Cai and Carneiro, {M. F.} and J. Chvojka and {Da Motta}, H. and J. Devan and Dytman, {S. A.} and D{\'i}az, {G. A.} and B. Eberly and E. Endress and J. Felix and L. Fields and R. Fine and R. Galindo and H. Gallagher and T. Golan and R. Gran and Harris, {D. A.} and A. Higuera and K. Hurtado and M. Kiveni and J. Kleykamp and M. Kordosky and T. Le and E. Maher and S. Manly and Mann, {W. A.} and Marshall, {C. M.} and {Martinez Caicedo}, {D. A.} and McFarland, {K. S.} and McGivern, {C. L.} and McGowan, {A. M.} and B. Messerly and J. Miller and A. Mislivec and Morf{\'i}n, {J. G.} and J. Mousseau and D. Naples and Nelson, {J. K.} and A. Norrick and Nuruzzaman and J. Osta and V. Paolone and {MINERvA Collaboration}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory under U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Award No. DE-AC02-07CH11359, which included the MINERvA construction project. Construction support was also granted by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. PHY-0619727 and by the University of Rochester. Support for participating scientists was provided by the NSF and DOE (USA), CAPES and CNPq (Brazil), CoNaCyT (Mexico), CONICYT (Chile), CONCYTEC, DGI-PUCP, and IDI/IGI-UNI (Peru), and Latin American Center for Physics (CLAF). We thank the MINOS Collaboration for use of its near detector data. We acknowledge the dedicated work of the Fermilab staff responsible for the operation and maintenance of the NuMI beam line, MINERvA, and MINOS detectors and the physical and software environments that support scientific computing at Fermilab. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 American Physical Society.",

year = "2016",

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day = "7",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.111801",

language = "English (US)",

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T1 - Evidence for Neutral-Current Diffractive π0 Production from Hydrogen in Neutrino Interactions on Hydrocarbon

AU - Wolcott, J.

AU - Aliaga, L.

AU - Altinok, O.

AU - Bercellie, A.

AU - Betancourt, M.

AU - Bodek, A.

AU - Bravar, A.

AU - Budd, H.

AU - Cai, T.

AU - Carneiro, M. F.

AU - Chvojka, J.

AU - Da Motta, H.

AU - Devan, J.

AU - Dytman, S. A.

AU - Díaz, G. A.

AU - Eberly, B.

AU - Endress, E.

AU - Felix, J.

AU - Fields, L.

AU - Fine, R.

AU - Galindo, R.

AU - Gallagher, H.

AU - Golan, T.

AU - Gran, R.

AU - Harris, D. A.

AU - Higuera, A.

AU - Hurtado, K.

AU - Kiveni, M.

AU - Kleykamp, J.

AU - Kordosky, M.

AU - Le, T.

AU - Maher, E.

AU - Manly, S.

AU - Mann, W. A.

AU - Marshall, C. M.

AU - Martinez Caicedo, D. A.

AU - McFarland, K. S.

AU - McGivern, C. L.

AU - McGowan, A. M.

AU - Messerly, B.

AU - Miller, J.

AU - Mislivec, A.

AU - Morfín, J. G.

AU - Mousseau, J.

AU - Naples, D.

AU - Nelson, J. K.

AU - Norrick, A.

AU - Nuruzzaman,

AU - Osta, J.

AU - Paolone, V.

AU - MINERvA Collaboration

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory under U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Award No. DE-AC02-07CH11359, which included the MINERvA construction project. Construction support was also granted by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. PHY-0619727 and by the University of Rochester. Support for participating scientists was provided by the NSF and DOE (USA), CAPES and CNPq (Brazil), CoNaCyT (Mexico), CONICYT (Chile), CONCYTEC, DGI-PUCP, and IDI/IGI-UNI (Peru), and Latin American Center for Physics (CLAF). We thank the MINOS Collaboration for use of its near detector data. We acknowledge the dedicated work of the Fermilab staff responsible for the operation and maintenance of the NuMI beam line, MINERvA, and MINOS detectors and the physical and software environments that support scientific computing at Fermilab. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 American Physical Society.

PY - 2016/9/7

Y1 - 2016/9/7

N2 - The MINERvA experiment observes an excess of events containing electromagnetic showers relative to the expectation from Monte Carlo simulations in neutral-current neutrino interactions with mean beam energy of 4.5 GeV on a hydrocarbon target. The excess is characterized and found to be consistent with neutral-current π0 production with a broad energy distribution peaking at 7 GeV and a total cross section of 0.26±0.02(stat.)±0.08(sys.)×10-39 cm2. The angular distribution, electromagnetic shower energy, and spatial distribution of the energy depositions of the excess are consistent with expectations from neutrino neutral-current diffractive π0 production from hydrogen in the hydrocarbon target. These data comprise the first direct experimental observation and constraint for a reaction that poses an important background process in neutrino-oscillation experiments searching for νμ to νe oscillations.

AB - The MINERvA experiment observes an excess of events containing electromagnetic showers relative to the expectation from Monte Carlo simulations in neutral-current neutrino interactions with mean beam energy of 4.5 GeV on a hydrocarbon target. The excess is characterized and found to be consistent with neutral-current π0 production with a broad energy distribution peaking at 7 GeV and a total cross section of 0.26±0.02(stat.)±0.08(sys.)×10-39 cm2. The angular distribution, electromagnetic shower energy, and spatial distribution of the energy depositions of the excess are consistent with expectations from neutrino neutral-current diffractive π0 production from hydrogen in the hydrocarbon target. These data comprise the first direct experimental observation and constraint for a reaction that poses an important background process in neutrino-oscillation experiments searching for νμ to νe oscillations.

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DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.111801

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JF - Physical Review Letters

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Evidence for Neutral-Current Diffractive π0 Production from Hydrogen in Neutrino Interactions on Hydrocarbon

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