First Measurement of the Muon Neutrino Charged Current Quasielastic Double Differential Cross Section

Collaboration
Feb, 2010
21 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 81 (2010) 092005
e-Print:
Report number:
  • FERMILAB-PUB-10-046-E
Experiments:

Citations per year

20092013201720212024010203040506070
Abstract: (arXiv)
A high-statistics sample of charged-current muon neutrino scattering events collected with the MiniBooNE experiment is analyzed to extract the first measurement of the double differential cross section (d2σdTμdcosθμ\frac{d^2\sigma}{dT_\mu d\cos\theta_\mu}) for charged-current quasielastic (CCQE) scattering on carbon. This result features minimal model dependence and provides the most complete information on this process to date. With the assumption of CCQE scattering, the absolute cross section as a function of neutrino energy (σ[Eν]\sigma[E_\nu]) and the single differential cross section (dσdQ2\frac{d\sigma}{dQ^2}) are extracted to facilitate comparison with previous measurements. These quantities may be used to characterize an effective axial-vector form factor of the nucleon and to improve the modeling of low-energy neutrino interactions on nuclear targets. The results are relevant for experiments searching for neutrino oscillations.
  • 13.15.+g
  • 14.60.Lm
  • 14.60.Pq
  • 25.30.Pt
  • neutrino/mu: secondary beam
  • neutrino: oscillation
  • neutrino: energy
  • form factor: axial-vector
  • nucleon: form factor
  • neutrino nucleus: inelastic scattering