We present double-differential measurements of antineutrino charged-current quasielastic scattering in the MINERvA detector. This study improves on a previous single-differential measurement by using ...updated reconstruction algorithms and interaction models and provides a complete description of observed muon kinematics in the form of a double-differential cross section with respect to muon transverse and longitudinal momentum. We include in our signal definition zero-meson final states arising from multinucleon interactions and from resonant pion production followed by pion absorption in the primary nucleus. We find that model agreement is considerably improved by a model tuned to MINERvA inclusive neutrino scattering data that incorporates nuclear effects such as weak nuclear screening and two-particle, two-hole enhancements.
The effect of antioxidant type and content alone or in combination with edible coatings for fresh-cut apples was studied. Edible composite coatings were prepared from whey protein concentrate (WPC) ...and beeswax (BW). Ascorbic acid (AA) at 0.5% and 1% content, cysteine (Cys) at 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5% content, and 4-hexylresorcinol (4-hexyl) at 0.005% and 0.02% were incorporated in the formulations as antioxidants. Apple pieces were coated with the emulsion coatings and weight loss, color (CIE L*, a*, b*, and browning index (BI)) and sensory evaluation were measured during storage. Results showed that incorporation of the antioxidant to the coating reduced browning compared to the use of the antioxidant alone. 4-Hexyl was the least effective at reducing browning, even when incorporated into the WPC-based coating. Increasing AA and Cys content decreased browning of coated samples. The most effective treatments were WPC–BW-based coatings with 1% AA or 0.5% Cys. Apple pieces treated with 0.3% and 0.1% Cys aqueous solutions showed a pinkish-red appearance, whereas this effect was not shown when similar levels of Cys were incorporated into the WPC–BW-based coating. Coating application did not reduces weight loss in fresh-cut apples, probably due to the high relative humidity of the product. A sensory panel was able to discriminate between samples coated with WPC–Cys and samples dipped in Cys aqueous solution, but not between samples coated with WPC–AA and samples dipped in AA aqueous solution.
Neutron production in antineutrino interactions can lead to bias in energy reconstruction in neutrino oscillation experiments, but these interactions have rarely been studied. MINERvA previously ...studied neutron production at an average antineutrino energy of ~3 GeV in 2016 and found deficiencies in leading models. In this paper, the MINERvA 6 GeV average antineutrino energy dataset is shown to have similar disagreements. A measurement of the cross section for an antineutrino to produce two or more neutrons and have low visible energy is presented as an experiment-independent way to explore neutron production modeling. This cross section disagrees with several leading models’ predictions. Neutron modeling techniques from nuclear physics are used to quantify neutron detection uncertainties on this result.
Muon-neutrino elastic scattering on electrons is an observable neutrino process whose cross section is precisely known. Consequently a measurement of this process in an accelerator-based nu sub(mu) ...beam can improve the knowledge of the absolute neutrino flux impinging upon the detector; typically this knowledge is limited to ~10% due to uncertainties in hadron production and focusing. We have isolated a sample of 135+ or -17 neutrino-electron elastic scattering candidates in the segmented scintillator detector of MINERvA, after subtracting backgrounds and correcting for efficiency. We show how this sample can be used to reduce the total uncertainty on the NuMI flux nu sub(mu) from 9% to 6%. Our measurement provides a flux constraint that is useful to other experiments using the NuMI beam, and this technique is applicable to future neutrino beams operating at multi-GeV energies.
We evaluate the potential of the DUNE near detector (DUNEND) for establishing bounds for heavy neutral leptons (HNLs). This is achieved by studying how the presence of HNLs affects the production ...rates of active neutrinos, therefore creating a deficit in the neutrino charged current (CC) events at the LArTPC of the DUNEND. The estimated bounds on HNLs are calculated for masses between 1 eV and 500 MeV. We consider 10 years of operation (five in neutrino and antineutrino modes) and obtain limits of | U μ 4 | 2 < 9 × 10 −3 (4 × 10 −2 ) and | U e 4 | 2 < 7 × 10 −3 (3 × 10 −2 ) for masses below 10 MeV and a 5% (20%) overall normalization uncertainty in the neutrino charged current event rate prediction. These limits, within the region of masses below 2 (10) MeV, are better than those that can be achieved by DUNE direct searches for the case of a 5% (20%) uncertainty. When a conservative 20% uncertainty is present, our limits can only improve current constraints on | U e 4 | 2 by up to a factor of 3 in a small region of approximately 5 eV and set limits on | U μ 4 | 2 in a mass region free of constraints (40 eV–1 MeV).
We apply the Jansson-Farrar JF12 magnetic field model in the context of point source searches by correlating the Telescope Array ultrahigh energy cosmic ray data and the IceCube-40 neutrino ...candidates, as well as other magnetic field hypotheses. Our field hypotheses are: no magnetic field, the JF12 field considering only the regular component, the JF12 full magnetic field, which is a combination of regular and random field components, and the standard turbulent magnetic field used in previous correlation analyses. As expected from a neutrino sample such as IceCube-40, consistent with atmospheric neutrinos, we have found no significant correlation signal in all the cases. Therefore, this paper is mainly devoted to the comparison of the effect of the different magnetic field hypotheses on the minimum neutrino source flux strength required for a 5sigma discovery and the derived 90% C.L. upper limits. We also incorporate in our comparison the cases of different power law indices alpha =2.2 , alpha =2.5 for the neutrino point source flux. The differences in the 5sigma discovery flux for our magnetic field hypotheses is ~1%-50% , being the maximum difference with the regular JF12 field and standard turbulent field models, being the standard turbulent higher than the regular one, while the minimum is between the no magnetic field and regular JF12 field. Considering the current flux upper limits, we find that IceCube requires a lifetime > or = 5 years to observe neutrino-UHECR correlation signals. Our analysis for different power law indices yielded the same relative behavior between different magnetic field models.
We have built sky maps showing the expected arrival directions of 120 EeV ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) directionally correlated with the latest astrophysical neutrino tracks observed at ...IceCube, including the four-year high-energy starting events (HESEs) and the two-year northern tracks, taken as point sources. We have considered contributions to UHECR deflections from the Galactic and the extragalactic magnetic field and a UHECR composition compatible with the current expectations. We have used the Jansson-Farrar JF12 model for the Galactic magnetic field and an extragalactic magnetic field strength of 1 nG and coherence length of 1 Mpc. We observe that the regions outside of the Galactic plane are more strongly correlated with the neutrino tracks than those adjacent to or in it, where IceCube HESE events 37 and 47 are good candidates to search for excesses, or anisotropies, in the UHECR flux. On the other hand, clustered northern tracks around (l,b)=(0°,−30°) and (l,b)=(−150°,−30°) are promising candidates for a stacked point source search. For example, we have focused on the region of UHECR arrival directions, at 150 EeV, correlated with IceCube HESE event 37 located at (l,b)=(−137.1°,65.8°) in the northern hemisphere, far away from the Galactic plane, obtaining an angular size ∼5°, being ∼3° for 200 EeV and ∼8° for 120 EeV. We report a p value of 0.20 for a stacked point source search using current Auger and Telescope Array data, consistent with current results from both collaborations. Using Telescope Array data alone, we found a projected live time of 72 years to find correlations, but clearly this must improve with the planned Auger upgrade.
We present measurements of the cross section for anti-neutrino charged-current quasielastic-like scattering on hydrocarbon using the medium energy NuMI wide-band neutrino beam peaking at antineutrino ...energy $\langle E_\bar{v} \rangle$ 6 GeV. The measurements are presented as a function of the longitudinal momentum ($p_{||}$) and transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) of the final state muon. This work complements our previously reported high statistics measurement in the neutrino channel and extends the previous anti-neutrino measurement made in the low energy beam at $\langle E_\bar{v} \rangle$ ~ 3.5 GeV out to $p_{T}$ of 2.5 GeV/c. Current theoretical models do not completely describe the data in this previously unexplored high $p_{T}$ region. The single differential cross section as a function of four momentum transfer ($Q^{2}_{QE}$) now extends to 4 GeV2 with high statistics. The cross section as a function of $Q^{2}_{QE}$ shows that the tuned simulations developed by the MINERvA collaboration that agreed well with the low energy beam measurements do not agree as well with the medium energy beam measurements. Newer neutrino interaction models such as the GENIE 3 tunes are better able to simulate the high $Q^{2}_{QE}$.
We show that the decoherence phenomena applied to the neutrino system could lead to an observable breaking of the fundamental CPT symmetry. We require specific textures of nondiagonal decoherence ...matrices, with nonzero δCP, for making such observations. Using the information from the CPT conjugate channels νμ→νμ and ν¯μ→ν¯μ and their corresponding backgrounds, we have estimated the sensitivity of the DUNE experiment for testing CPT under the previous conditions. Four scenarios for energy-dependent decoherence parameters, ΓEν=Γ×(Eν/GeV)n, n=−1, 0, 1, and 2, are taken into account, and for most of them, DUNE is able to achieve a 5σ discovery potential, having Γ in O(10−23 GeV) for δCP=3π/2. Meanwhile, for δCP=π/2, we reach 3σ for Γ in O(10−24 GeV).
Neutrino induced coherent charged pion production on nuclei, ν¯μA→μ±π∓A, is a rare inelastic interaction in which the four-momentum squared transferred to the nucleus is nearly zero, leaving it ...intact. We identify such events in the scintillator of MINERvA by reconstructing |t| from the final state pion and muon momenta and by removing events with evidence of energetic nuclear recoil or production of other final state particles. We measure the total neutrino and antineutrino cross sections as a function of neutrino energy between 2 and 20 GeV and measure flux integrated differential cross sections as a function of Q2, Eπ, and θπ. The Q2 dependence and equality of the neutrino and antineutrino cross sections at finite Q2 provide a confirmation of Adler’s partial conservation of axial current hypothesis.
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