Charged-Particle Multiplicities in Charged-Current Neutrino-- and Anti-Neutrino--Nucleus Interactions

TL;DR

This paper reports on measurements of charged-particle multiplicities and distributions in high-energy neutrino and anti-neutrino interactions with nuclei, providing data for validating neutrino interaction models.

Contribution

It presents new experimental results on charged-particle production, including quasi-elastic topologies, in neutrino-nucleus interactions using nuclear emulsion detectors.

Findings

Average charged particle multiplicities measured

Pseudo-rapidity distributions analyzed

KNO scaling studied in different kinematic regions

Abstract

The CHORUS experiment, designed to search for $\nu_{\mu}\to\nu_{\tau}$ oscillations, consists of a nuclear emulsion target and electronic detectors. In this paper, results on the production of charged particles in a small sample of charged-current neutrino-- and anti-neutrino--nucleus interactions at high energy are presented. For each event, the emission angle and the ionization features of the charged particles produced in the interaction are recorded, while the standard kinematic variables are reconstructed using the electronic detectors. The average multiplicities for charged tracks, the pseudo-rapidity distributions, the dispersion in the multiplicity of charged particles and the KNO scaling are studied in different kinematical regions. A study of quasi-elastic topologies performed for the first time in nuclear emulsions is also reported. The results are presented in a form suitable for use in the validation of Monte Carlo generators of neutrino--nucleus interactions.