NC pi0 Production in the MiniBooNE Antineutrino Data
V. T. Nguyen
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4 pages, including 5 figures. Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions in the Few-GeV Region (NuInt07), Batavia, Illinois, 30 May - 3 Jun 2007
The single largest background to future numubar to nuebar (numu to nue) oscillation searches is neutral current pi0 production. MiniBooNE, which began taking antineutrino data in January 2006, has the world's largest sample of pi0's produced by antineutrinos in the 1 GeV energy range. These neutral pions are primarily produced through the delta resonance but can also be created through "coherent production." The latter process is the coherent sum of glancing scatters of (anti)neutrinos off a neutron or proton, in which the nucleus is kept intact but a pi0 is created. Current analysis of NC pi0 production in the MiniBooNE antineutrino data will be discussed.
These proceedings summarize the first MiniBooNE electron antineutrino appearance search results, corresponding to a data sample collected for 3.39$\times10^{20}$ protons on target (POT). The search serves as a direct test of the LSND oscillation signature, and provides complementary information which can be used in studies addressing the MiniBooNE neutrino-mode low-energy excess.
The MiniBooNE experiment has reported a number of high statistics neutrino and anti-neutrino cross sections-among which are the charged current quasi-elastic (CCQE) and neutral current elastic (NCE) neutrino scattering on mineral oil. Recently a study of the neutrino contamination of the anti-neutrino beam has concluded and the analysis of the anti-neutrino CCQE and NCE scattering is ongoing.
The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab has updated its search for ν_μ-bar -> ν_e-bar oscillations with data collected through May 2011. This represents a statistics increase of 52% over the result published in 2010. The data favor LSND-like oscillations over a background-only hypothesis at the 91.1% confidence level. While the new result remains equally consistent with LSND, the compatibility with the background-only hypothesis is improved. An excess of 38.6 +- 18.5 ν_e-like events below 475 MeV is observed, consistent with the observation of such an excess in neutrino mode.
The analysis of the recent neutral-current elastic neutrino and antineutrino-nucleus scattering cross sections measured by the MiniBooNE Collaboration requires relativistic theoretical descriptions also accounting for the role of final-state interactions. In this work we investigate the sensitivity to final-state interactions and compare the MiniBooNE data with the results obtained in the relativistic Green's function model with different parameterizations for the phenomenological relativistic optical potential.
There is accumulating evidence for a difference between neutrino and antineutrino oscillations at the $\sim 1$ eV$^2$ scale. The MiniBooNE experiment observes an unexplained excess of electron-like events at low energies in neutrino mode, which may be due, for example, to either a neutral current radiative interaction, sterile neutrino decay, or to neutrino oscillations involving sterile neutrinos and which may be related to the LSND signal. No excess of electron-like events ($-0.5 \pm 7.8 \pm 8.7$), however, is observed so far at low energies in antineutrino mode. Furthermore, global 3+1 and …
Neutral Current Elastic (NCE) interactions in MiniBooNE are discussed. In the neutrino mode MiniBooNE reported: the flux averaged NCE differential cross section as a function of four-momentum transferred squared, an axial mass M_{A} measurement, and a measurement of the strange quark spin content of the nucleon, Δs. In the antineutrino mode we present the background-subtracted data which is compared with the Monte Carlo predictions.
The first measurements of antineutrino charged-current quasielastic ($\numub$ CCQE, $\numu + N \to \mup + N'$) and neutral-current elastic ($\numub$ NCE, $\numu + N \to \numu + N$) cross sections with $< E_{\barν} >$ $<$ 1 GeV are presented. To maximize the precision of these measurements, many data-driven background measurements were executed, including a first demonstration of charge separation using a non-magnetized detector. Apart from extending our knowledge of antineutrino interactions by probing a new energy range, these measurements constrain signal and background processes for current…
We discuss the nuclear interactions of neutrinos versus those of antineutrinos, a relevant comparison for CP violation experiments in the neutrino sector. We consider the MiniBooNE quasielastic-like double differential neutrinos and antineutrinos cross sections which are flux dependent and hence specific to the MiniBooNE set-up. We combine them introducing their sum and their difference. We show that the last combination can bring a general information, which can be exploited in other experiments, on the nuclear matrix elements of the axial vector interference term. Our theoretical model repro…
The MiniBooNE Collaboration reports initial results from a search for $\barν_μ\to\barν_e$ oscillations. A signal-blind analysis was performed using a data sample corresponding to $3.39 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target. The data are consistent with background prediction across the full range of neutrino energy reconstructed assuming quasielastic scattering, $200 < E_ν^{QE} < 3000$ MeV: 144 electron-like events have been observed in this energy range, compared to an expectation of $139.2 \pm 17.6$ events. No significant excess of events has been observed, both at low energy, 200-475 MeV, and at…
We investigate the MiniBooNE recent data on the antineutrino nucleus interaction, using the same theoretical description with the same parameters as in previous works on neutrino interactions. The double differential quasielastic cross section, which is free from the energy reconstruction problem, is well reproduced by our model once the multinucleon excitations are incorporated. A similar agreement is achieved for the Q^2 distribution.
We report the measurement of the flux-averaged antineutrino neutral current elastic scattering cross section ($dσ_{\bar νN \rightarrow \bar νN}/dQ^{2}$) on CH$_{2}$ by the MiniBooNE experiment using the largest sample of antineutrino neutral current elastic candidate events ever collected. The ratio of the antineutrino to neutrino neutral current elastic scattering cross sections and a ratio of antineutrino neutral current elastic to antineutrino charged current quasi elastic cross section is also presented.
We present an update of our analysis of short-baseline neutrino oscillation data in the framework of 3+1 neutrino mixing taking into account the recent update of MiniBooNE antineutrino data and the recent results of the MINOS search for nu_mu disappearance into sterile neutrinos (the more complicated 3+2 neutrino mixing is not needed since the CP-violating difference between MiniBooNE neutrino and antineutrino data has diminished). The results of our fits of short-baseline neutrino oscillation data including the MiniBooNE low-energy anomaly (now present both in the neutrino and antineutrino da…
We consider the interpretation of the MiniBooNE low-energy anomaly and the Gallium radioactive source experiments anomaly in terms of short-baseline electron neutrino disappearance in the framework of 3+1 four-neutrino mixing schemes. The separate fits of MiniBooNE and Gallium data are highly compatible, with close best-fit values of the effective oscillation parameters Delta m^2 and sin^2 2 theta. The combined fit gives Delta m^2 >~ 0.1 eV^2 and 0.11 < sin^2 2 theta < 0.48 at 2 sigma. We consider also the data of the Bugey and Chooz reactor antineutrino oscillation experiments and the limits …
The MiniBooNE experiment has reported results from the analysis of $ν_e$ and $\bar ν_e$ appearance searches, which show an excess of signal-like events at low reconstructed neutrino energies, with respect to the expected background. A significant component of this background comes from photon emission induced by (anti)neutrino neutral current interactions with nucleons and nuclei. With an improved microscopic model for these reactions, we predict the number and distributions of photon events at the MiniBooNE detector. Our results are compared to the MiniBooNE in situ estimate and to other theo…
The analysis of charged-current quasielastic neutrino and antineutrino-nucleus scattering cross sections requires relativistic theoretical descriptions also accounting for the role of final-state interactions. We compare the results of the relativistic Green's function model with the data recently published by the MINER$ν$A Collaboration. The model is able to describe both MINER$ν$A and MiniBooNE data.
The SciBooNE experiment (Fermilab) recently published results of a search for charged current coherent pion production in neutrino mode: muon neutrinos scattering on carbon. The results of this study are that no evidence for coherent pion production is observed, and SciBooNE set 90% confidence level upper limits on the cross section ratio of charged current coherent pion production to the total charged current cross section. Recently proposed new coherent pion models predict a production of charged current coherent pion events just below the SciBooNE's upper limit. Motivated by this, we perfor…
The indications in favor of short-baseline neutrino oscillations, which require the existence of one or more sterile neutrinos, are reviewed. In the framework of 3+1 neutrino mixing, which is the simplest extension of the standard three-neutrino mixing which can partially explain the data, there is a strong tension in the interpretation of the data, mainly due to an incompatibility of the results of appearance and disappearance experiments. In the framework of 3+2 neutrino mixing, CP violation in short-baseline experiments can explain the difference between MiniBooNE neutrino and antineutrino …
Understanding the charged current quasielestic (CCQE) neutrino-nucleus interaction is important for precision studies of neutrino oscillations. The theoretical description of the interaction depends on the combination of a nuclear model with the knowledge of form factors. While the former has received considerable attention, the latter, in particular the axial form factor, is implemented using the historical dipole model. Instead, we use a model-independent approach, presented in a previous study, to analyze the muon antineutrino CCQE mineral oil data published by the MiniBooNE collaboration. …
The MiniBooNE and SciBooNE collaborations report the results of a joint search for short baseline disappearance of \bar{ν_μ} at Fermilab's Booster Neutrino Beamline. The MiniBooNE Cherenkov detector and the SciBooNE tracking detector observe antineutrinos from the same beam, therefore the combined analysis of their datasets serves to partially constrain some of the flux and cross section uncertainties. Uncertainties in the ν_μ background were constrained by neutrino flux and cross section measurements performed in both detectors. A likelihood ratio method was used to set a 90% confidence level…
The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports results from an analysis of $\bar ν_e$ appearance data from $11.27 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in antineutrino mode, an increase of approximately a factor of two over the previously reported results. An event excess of $78.4 \pm 28.5$ events ($2.8 σ$) is observed in the energy range $200<E_ν^{QE}<1250$ MeV. If interpreted in a two-neutrino oscillation model, $\barν_μ\rightarrow\barν_e$, the best oscillation fit to the excess has a probability of 66% while the background-only fit has a $χ^2$-probability of 0.5% relative to the best fit. The dat…
We present theoretical predictions in the framework of the ANP model for single pion production ($π^+, π^0$) in $ν_μ$ and $\barν_μ$ scattering off mineral oil and plastic. Our results for the total cross sections and flux averaged differential distributions are compared to all available data of the MiniBooNE and MINER$ν$A experiments. While our predictions slightly undershoot the MiniBooNE data they reproduce the normalization of the MINER$ν$A data for the kinetic energy distribution. For the dependence on the polar angle we reproduce the shape of the arbitrarily normalized data.
We consider possible indications of Very-Short-BaseLine (VSBL) electron neutrino disappearance into sterile neutrinos in MiniBooNE neutrino data and Gallium radioactive source experiments. We discuss the compatibility of such a disappearance with reactor and MiniBooNE antineutrino data. We find a tension between neutrino and antineutrino data which could be due to: 1) statistical fluctuations; 2) underestimate of systematic uncertainties; 3) exclusion of our hypothesis of VSBL nu_e disappearance; 4) a violation of CPT symmetry. Considering the first possibility, we present the results of a com…
New gauge bosons coupling to leptons are simple and well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model. We study the sensitivity to gauged $L_μ -L_{e}$, $L_e-L_τ$ and $L_μ -L_τ$ both with the existing beam dump mode data of MiniBooNE and with the DUNE near detector. We find that including bremsstrahlung and resonant production of $Z'$ which decays to $e^{\pm}$ and $μ^{\pm}$ final states leads to a significant improvement in existing bounds, especially for $L_μ-L_e$ and $L_e-L_τ$ for DUNE while competitive constraints can be achieved with the existing data from the MiniBooNE's beam dump run.
This report summarizes our study of Neutral Current (NC)-induced photon production in MiniBooNE, as motivated by the low energy excess in this experiment [A. A. Aquilar-Arevalo et al. (MiniBooNE Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 231801 (2007); 103, 111801 (2009)]. It was proposed that NC photon production with two anomalous photon-$Z$ boson-vector meson couplings might explain the excess. However, our computed event numbers in both neutrino and antineutrino runs are consistent with the previous MiniBooNE estimate that is based on their pion production measurement. Various nuclear effects di…
In this work we study the $Σπ$ and $Λπ$ production off free nucleons driven by the strangeness-changing weak charged current. We calculate the total cross sections for all possible channels and estimate the flux-averaged total cross sections for experiments like MiniBooNE, SciBooNE, T2K, and Minerva. The model is based on the lowest order effective SU(3) chiral Lagrangians in the presence of an external weak charged current and contains Born and the lowest-lying decuplet resonant mechanisms that can contribute to these reaction channels. We also compare and discuss our results with others foll…
Predictions for neutrino-induced charged- and neutral-current single pion production on CH_2 from theoretical models and Monte Carlo event generators are compared with the cross section measurements from the MiniBooNE experiment.
We investigate one pion production processes within the Giessen Boltzmann--Uehling--Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) coupled channel transport model. Our calculations for integrated and differential cross sections for realistic experimental neutrino fluxes are compared to the data recently provided by the MiniBooNE collaboration.
We summarise recent neutrino and antineutrino measurements near 1 GeV by the K2K, MiniBooNE and SciBooNE collaborations. We focus on experimental methods and note discrepancies between the most commonly used models for neutrino-nucleus interactions and recent high statistics observations of charged-current quasi-elastic scattering as well as charged and neutral current pion production on carbon and oxygen. We discuss possible directions for future measurements.
We carry out an ab initio calculation of the neutrino flux-folded inclusive cross sections, measured on $^{12}$C by the MiniBooNE and T2K collaborations in the charged-current quasielastic (CCQE) regime. The calculation is based on realistic two- and three-nucleon interactions, and on a realistic nuclear electroweak current with one-and two-nucleon terms that are constructed consistently with these interactions and reproduce low-energy electroweak transitions. Numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo methods are utilized to compute the nuclear weak response functions, by fully retaining many-body…
The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports results from an analysis of the combined $ν_e$ and $\bar ν_e$ appearance data from $6.46 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in neutrino mode and $11.27 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in antineutrino mode. A total excess of $240.3 \pm 34.5 \pm 52.6$ events ($3.8 σ$) is observed from combining the two data sets in the energy range $200<E_ν^{QE}<1250$ MeV. In a combined fit for CP-conserving $ν_μ\rightarrow ν_e$ and $\barν_μ\rightarrow\barν_e$ oscillations via a two-neutrino model, the background-only fit has a $χ^2$-probability of 0.03% relative to …
We analyze the prospects for detection of light sub-GeV dark matter produced in experiments designed to study the properties of neutrinos, such as MiniBooNE, T2K, SHiP, DUNE etc. We present an improved production model, when dark matter couples to hadronic states via a dark photon or baryonic vector mediator, incorporating bremsstrahlung of the dark vector. In addition to elastic scattering, we also study signatures of light dark matter undergoing deep inelastic or quasi-elastic NC$π^0$-like scattering in the detector producing neutral pions, which for certain experiments may provide the best …
The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports results from a search for $\bar ν_μ\rightarrow \bar ν_e$ oscillations, using a data sample corresponding to $5.66 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target. An excess of $20.9 \pm 14.0$ events is observed in the energy range $475<E_ν^{QE}<1250$ MeV, which, when constrained by the observed $\bar ν_μ$ events, has a probability for consistency with the background-only hypothesis of 0.5\%. On the other hand, fitting for $\barν_μ\rightarrow\barν_e$ oscillations, the best-fit point has a $χ^2$-probability of 8.7\%. The data are consistent with $\bar ν_μ\rightarro…
Background: Charged current pion production gives information on the axial formfactors of nucleon resonances. It also introduces a noticeable background to quasi-elastic measurements on nuclear targets. Purpose: Understand pion production in neutrino interactions with nucleons and the reaction mechanism in nuclei. Method: The Giessen Boltzmann--Uehling--Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) model is used for an investigation of neutrino-nucleus reactions. Results: Theoretical results for integrated and differential cross sections for the MiniBooNE neutrino flux are compared to the data. Two sets of pion productio…
We present the results of a new analysis of the data of the MiniBooNE experiment taking into account the additional background of photons from $Δ^{+/0}$ decay proposed in arXiv:1909.08571 and additional contributions due to coherent photon emission, incoherent production of higher mass resonances, and incoherent non-resonant nucleon production. We show that the new background can explain part of the MiniBooNE low-energy excess and the statistical significance of the MiniBooNE indication in favor of short-baseline neutrino oscillation decreases from $5.1σ$ to $3.6σ$. We also consider the implic…
Neutrino induced coherent charged pion production on nuclei, $\overlineν_μA\toμ^\pmπ^\mp A$, is a rare inelastic interaction in which the four-momentum squared transfered 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 diff…
Data from the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments, and revised expectations of the antineutrino flux from nuclear reactors suggest the existence of eV-mass sterile neutrinos. 3+2 and 1+3+1 scenarios accommodate all relevant short-baseline neutrino data except for the low-energy MiniBooNE anomaly. We analyze the angular distribution of upward going atmospheric neutrino events in the IceCube-40 dataset for evidence of sterile neutrinos within these scenarios. Depending on how systematic uncertainties are handled, we find strong evidence for, or weak evidence against sterile neutrinos. We show that fu…
Separate samples of charged-current pion production events representing two semi-inclusive channels $ν_μ$-CC($π^{+}$) and $\barν_μ$-CC($π^{0}$) have been obtained using neutrino and antineutrino exposures of the MINERvA detector. Distributions in kinematic variables based upon $μ^{\pm}$-track reconstructions are analyzed and compared for the two samples. The differential cross sections for muon production angle, muon momentum, and four-momentum transfer $Q^2$, are reported, and cross sections versus neutrino energy are obtained. Comparisons with predictions of current neutrino event generators…
We report on the first cross section measurements for charged current coherent pion production by neutrinos and antineutrinos on argon. These measurements are performed using the ArgoNeuT detector exposed to the NuMI beam at Fermilab. The cross sections are measured to be $2.6^{+1.2}_{-1.0}(stat)^{+0.3}_{-0.4}(syst) \times 10^{-38} \textrm{cm}^{2}/\textrm{Ar}$ for neutrinos at a mean energy of $9.6$ GeV and $5.5^{+2.6}_{-2.1}(stat)^{+0.6}_{-0.7}(syst) \times 10^{-39} \textrm{cm}^{2}/\textrm{Ar}$ for antineutrinos at a mean energy of $3.6$ GeV.
The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports results from an analysis of $ν_e$ appearance data from $12.84 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in neutrino mode, an increase of approximately a factor of two over previously reported results. A $ν_e$ charged-current quasielastic event excess of $381.2 \pm 85.2$ events ($4.5 σ$) is observed in the energy range $200<E_ν^{QE}<1250$~MeV. Combining these data with the $\bar ν_e$ appearance data from $11.27 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in antineutrino mode, a total $ν_e$ plus $\bar ν_e$ charged-current quasielastic event excess of $460.5 \pm 99.0$ e…
The Booster Neutrino Experiment (MiniBooNE) searches for muon neutrino to electron neutrino oscillations using the ~1 GeV neutrino beam produced by the FNAL Booster synchrotron. The array of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) lining the MiniBooNE detector records Cherenkov and scintillation photons from the charged particles produced in neutrino interactions. We describe a maximum likelihood fitting algorithm used to reconstruct the basic properties (position, direction, energy) of these particles from the charges and times measured by the PMTs. The likelihoods returned from fitting an event to diff…
Measurement of $π^0$ Production in $\barν_μ$ Charged-Current Interactions in the NOvA Near Detector
Erciyes University（埃尔齐耶斯大学）；Universidad del Atlantico（大西洋大学）；University of Mississippi（密西西比大学）；Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory（费米国家加速器实验室）；Joint Institute for Nuclear Research（苏联联合核研究所）；Universidad del Magdalena（马格达莱纳大学）；University of Sussex（萨塞克斯大学）；University of Cincinnati（辛辛那提大学）；Indiana University（印第安纳大学）；Iowa State University（爱荷华州立大学）；University of California at Irvine（加州大学尔湾分校）；University of Hyderabad（海得拉巴大学）
