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Final-state kinematic imbalances are measured in mesonless production of νμ+A→μ−+p+X in the MINERvA tracker. Initial- and final-state nuclear effects are probed using the direction of the μ−−p transverse momentum imbalance and the initial-state momentum of the struck neutron. Differential cross sections are compared to predictions based on current approaches to medium modeling. These models underpredict the cross section at intermediate intranuclear momentum transfers that generally exceed the Fermi momenta. As neutrino interaction models need to correctly incorporate the effect of the nucleus in order to predict neutrino energy resolution in oscillation experiments, this result points to a region of phase space where additional cross section strength is needed in current models, and demonstrates a new technique that would be suitable for use in fine-grained liquid argon detectors where the effect of the nucleus may be even larger.
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Measurement of neutron production in atmospheric neutrino interactions at Super-Kamiokande
We present measurements of total neutron production from atmospheric neutrino interactions in water, analyzed as a function of electron-equivalent visible energy over a range of 30 MeV to 10 GeV. These results are based on 4,270 days of data collected by Super-Kamiokande, including 564 days with 0.011 wt% gadolinium added to enhance neutron detection. Neutron signal selection is based on a neural network trained on simulation, with its performance validated using an Am/Be neutron point source. The measurements are compared to predictions from neutrino event generators combined with various hadron-nucleus interaction models, which include an intranuclear cascade model and a nuclear deexcitation model. We observe significant variations in the predictions depending on the choice of hadron-nucleus interaction model. We discuss key factors that contribute to describing our data, such as in-medium effects in the intranuclear cascade and the accuracy of statistical evaporation modeling.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2411709
- PAR ID:
- 10689318
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Publisher / Repository:
- PHYSICAL REVIEW D 112, 012004 (2025)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review D
- Volume:
- 112
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2470-0010
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1103/4d71-d69k
