We report on the first measurement of flux-integrated single differential cross sections for charged-current (CC) muon neutrino (νμ) scattering on argon with a muon and a proton in the final state, ...Ar40 (νμ,μp)X. The measurement was carried out using the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber detector with an exposure of 4.59×1019 protons on target. Events are selected to enhance the contribution of CC quasielastic (CCQE) interactions. The data are reported in terms of a total cross section as well as single differential cross sections in final state muon and proton kinematics. We measure the integrated per-nucleus CCQE-like cross section (i.e., for interactions leading to a muon, one proton, and no pions above detection threshold) of (4.93±0.76stat±1.29sys)×10−38 cm2, in good agreement with theoretical calculations. The single differential cross sections are also in overall good agreement with theoretical predictions, except at very forward muon scattering angles that correspond to low-momentum-transfer events.
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We present the first measurement of the cross section of Cabibbo-suppressed Λ baryon production, using data collected with the MicroBooNE detector when exposed to the neutrinos from the main injector ...beam at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The data analyzed correspond to 2.2×1020 protons on target running in neutrino mode, and 4.9×1020 protons on target running in anti-neutrino mode. An automated selection is combined with hand scanning, with the former identifying five candidate Λ production events when the signal was unblinded, consistent with the GENIE prediction of 5.3±1.1 events. Several scanners were employed, selecting between three and five events, compared with a prediction from a blinded Monte Carlo simulation study of 3.7±1.0 events. Restricting the phase space to only include Λ baryons that decay above MicroBooNE’s detection thresholds, we obtain a flux averaged cross section of 2.0-1.7+2.2×10-40 cm2/Ar , where statistical and systematic uncertainties are combined.
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We report the first double-differential cross section measurement of
neutral-current neutral pion (NC$\pi^0$) production in neutrino-argon
scattering, as well as single-differential measurements of ...the same channel in
terms of final states with and without protons. The kinematic variables of
interest for these measurements are the $\pi^0$ momentum and the $\pi^0$
scattering angle with respect to the neutrino beam. A total of 4971 candidate
NC$\pi^0$ events fully-contained within the MicroBooNE detector are selected
using data collected at a mean neutrino energy of $\sim 0.8$ GeV from
$6.4\times10^{20}$ protons on target from the Booster Neutrino Beam at the
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. After extensive data-driven model
validation to ensure unbiased unfolding, the Wiener-SVD method is used to
extract nominal flux-averaged cross sections. The results are compared to
predictions from commonly used neutrino event generators, which tend to
overpredict the measured NC$\pi^0$ cross section, especially in the 0.2-0.5
GeV/c $\pi^0$ momentum range, at forward scattering angles, and when at least
one proton is present in the final state. These measurements show sensitivity
to a variety of features that complicate the description of NC$\pi^0$
production including the form factors describing the elementary neutrino
interaction and the final state interactions of the outgoing particles in the
residual argon nucleus. This data will help improve the modeling of NC$\pi^0$
production, which represents a major background in measurements of
charge-parity violation in the neutrino sector and in searches for new physics
beyond the Standard Model.
Phys. Rev. D 110, 013006 (2024) A detailed understanding of inclusive muon neutrino charged-current
interactions on argon is crucial to the study of neutrino oscillations in
current and future ...experiments using liquid argon time projection chambers. To
that end, we report a comprehensive set of differential cross section
measurements for this channel that simultaneously probe the leptonic and
hadronic systems by dividing the channel into final states with and without
protons. Measurements of the proton kinematics and proton multiplicity of the
final state are also presented. For these measurements, we utilize data
collected with the MicroBooNE detector from 6.4$\times10^{20}$ protons on
target from the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam at a mean neutrino energy of
approximately 0.8 GeV. We present in detail the cross section extraction
procedure, including the unfolding, and model validation that uses data to
model comparisons and the conditional constraint formalism to detect
mismodeling that may introduce biases to extracted cross sections that are
larger than their uncertainties. The validation exposes insufficiencies in the
overall model, motivating the inclusion of an additional data-driven
reweighting systematic to ensure the accuracy of the unfolding. The extracted
results are compared to a number of event generators and their performance is
discussed with a focus on the regions of phase-space that indicate the greatest
need for modeling improvements.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 151801 Published 10 April 2024 We present a measurement of $\eta$ production from neutrino interactions on
argon with the MicroBooNE detector. The modeling of resonant neutrino
...interactions on argon is a critical aspect of the neutrino oscillation physics
program being carried out by the DUNE and Short Baseline Neutrino programs.
$\eta$ production in neutrino interactions provides a powerful new probe of
resonant interactions, complementary to pion channels, and is particularly
suited to the study of higher-order resonances beyond the $\Delta(1232)$. We
measure a flux-integrated cross section for neutrino-induced $\eta$ production
on argon of $3.22 \pm 0.84 \; \textrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.86 \; \textrm{(syst.)}$
$10^{-41}{\textrm{cm}}^{2}$/nucleon. By demonstrating the successful
reconstruction of the two photons resulting from $\eta$ production, this
analysis enables a novel calibration technique for electromagnetic showers in
GeV accelerator neutrino experiments.
MicroBooNE is a neutrino experiment located in the Booster Neutrino Beamline
(BNB) at Fermilab, which collected data from 2015 to 2021. MicroBooNE's liquid
argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) is ...accompanied by a photon detection
system consisting of 32 photomultiplier tubes used to measure the argon
scintillation light and determine the timing of neutrino interactions. Analysis
techniques combining light signals and reconstructed tracks are applied to
achieve a neutrino interaction time resolution of $\mathcal{O}(1\,\text{ns})$.
The result obtained allows MicroBooNE to access the ns neutrino pulse structure
of the BNB for the first time. The timing resolution achieved will enable
significant enhancement of cosmic background rejection for all neutrino
analyses. Furthermore, the ns timing resolution opens new avenues to search for
long-lived-particles such as heavy neutral leptons in MicroBooNE, as well as in
future large LArTPC experiments, namely the SBN program and DUNE.
We present the first measurement of the cross section of Cabibbo-suppressed
$\Lambda$ baryon production, using data collected with the MicroBooNE detector
when exposed to the neutrinos from the Main ...Injector beam at the Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory. The data analyzed correspond to $2.2 \times 10^{20}$
protons on target of neutrino mode running and $4.9 \times 10^{20}$ protons on
target of anti-neutrino mode running. An automated selection is combined with
hand scanning, with the former identifying five candidate $\Lambda$ production
events when the signal was unblinded, consistent with the GENIE prediction of
$5.3 \pm 1.1$ events. Several scanners were employed, selecting between three
and five events, compared with a prediction from a blinded Monte Carlo
simulation study of $3.7 \pm 1.0$ events. Restricting the phase space to only
include $\Lambda$ baryons that decay above MicroBooNE's detection thresholds,
we obtain a flux averaged cross section of $2.0^{+2.2}_{-1.7} \times 10^{-40}$
cm$^2/$Ar, where statistical and systematic uncertainties are combined.
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