Identification of Nuclear Effects in Neutrino-Carbon Interactions at Low Three-Momentum Transfer

P A Rodrigues; J Demgen; E Miltenberger; L Aliaga; O Altinok; L Bellantoni; A Bercellie; M Betancourt; A Bodek; A Bravar; H Budd; T Cai; M F Carneiro; J Chvojka; J Devan; S A Dytman; G A Díaz; B Eberly; M Elkins; J Felix; L Fields; R Fine; A M Gago; R Galindo; H Gallagher; A Ghosh; T Golan; R Gran; D A Harris; A Higuera; K Hurtado; M Kiveni; J Kleykamp; M Kordosky; T Le; J R Leistico; A Lovlein; 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; T Muhlbeier; D Naples; J K Nelson; A Norrick; Nuruzzaman; J Osta; V Paolone; C E Patrick; G N Perdue; M A Ramirez; R D Ransome; H Ray; L Ren; D Rimal; D Ruterbories; H Schellman; D W Schmitz; C J Solano Salinas; N Tagg; B G Tice; E Valencia; T Walton; J Wolcott; M Wospakrik; G Zavala; D Zhang; MINERvA Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.071802

Identification of Nuclear Effects in Neutrino-Carbon Interactions at Low Three-Momentum Transfer

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Feb 19;116(7):071802. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.071802. Epub 2016 Feb 17.

Authors

P A Rodrigues¹, J Demgen², E Miltenberger², L Aliaga³, O Altinok⁴, L Bellantoni⁵, A Bercellie¹, M Betancourt⁵, A Bodek¹, A Bravar⁶, H Budd¹, T Cai¹, M F Carneiro⁷, J Chvojka¹, J Devan³, S A Dytman⁸, G A Díaz^{1

9}, B Eberly⁸, M Elkins², J Felix¹⁰, L Fields^{5

10}, R Fine¹, A M Gago⁹, R Galindo¹¹, H Gallagher⁴, A Ghosh^{1

7}, T Golan^{1

5}, R Gran², D A Harris⁵, A Higuera^{1

10}, K Hurtado^{7

12}, M Kiveni⁵, J Kleykamp¹, M Kordosky³, T Le^{4

13}, J R Leistico², A Lovlein², E Maher¹⁴, S Manly¹, W A Mann⁴, C M Marshall¹, D A Martinez Caicedo⁵, K S McFarland^{1

5}, C L McGivern⁸, A M McGowan¹, B Messerly⁸, J Miller¹¹, A Mislivec¹, J G Morfín⁵, J Mousseau¹⁵, T Muhlbeier⁷, D Naples⁸, J K Nelson³, A Norrick³, Nuruzzaman^{13

16}, J Osta⁵, V Paolone⁸, C E Patrick¹⁷, G N Perdue^{1

5}, M A Ramirez¹⁰, R D Ransome¹³, H Ray¹⁵, L Ren⁸, D Rimal¹⁵, D Ruterbories¹, H Schellman^{17

18}, D W Schmitz^{5

19}, C J Solano Salinas¹², N Tagg²⁰, B G Tice¹³, E Valencia¹⁰, T Walton¹⁶, J Wolcott^{1

4}, M Wospakrik¹⁵, G Zavala¹⁰, D Zhang³; MINERvA Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
² Department of Physics, University of Minnesota-Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota 55812, USA.
³ Department of Physics, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187, USA.
⁴ Physics Department, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
⁵ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA.
⁶ University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
⁷ Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Rua Dr. Xavier Sigaud 150, Urca, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 22290-180, Brazil.
⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA.
⁹ Sección Física, Departamento de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Apartado 1761, Lima, Peru.
¹⁰ Campus León y Campus Guanajuato, Universidad de Guanajuato, Lascurain de Retana No. 5, Colonia Centro, Guanajuato 36000, Guanajuato, Mexico.
¹¹ Departamento de Física, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680 Casilla 110-V, Valparaíso, Chile.
¹² Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Apartado 31139, Lima, Peru.
¹³ Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
¹⁴ Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 375 Church Street, North Adams, Massachusetts 01247, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia 23668, USA.
¹⁷ Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA.
¹⁹ Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
²⁰ Department of Physics, Otterbein University, 1 South Grove Street, Westerville, Ohio 43081, USA.

PMID: 26943528
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.071802

Abstract

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 ν_{μ} interactions is combined with muon kinematics to permit separation of the quasielastic and Δ(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 Δ resonance processes are needed to describe the data. The data in this kinematic region also have an enhanced population of multiproton 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.