First Measurement of Muon Neutrino Charged Current Quasielastic (CCQE) Double Differential Cross Section

TL;DR

This paper presents the first detailed measurement of muon neutrino CCQE double differential cross sections, providing essential data to improve neutrino interaction models and aid oscillation experiments.

Contribution

It offers the first measurement of the double differential cross section for muon neutrino CCQE interactions, reducing model dependence and enhancing understanding of neutrino-nucleon scattering.

Findings

First measurement of double differential cross section as a function of muon energy and angle.

Provides absolute cross section as a function of neutrino energy.

Supplies data to improve neutrino interaction models.

Abstract

Using a high statistics sample of muon neutrino charged current quasielastic (CCQE) events, we report the first measurement of the double differential cross section as a function of muon energy and angle for this process. The result features reduced model dependence and supplies the most complete information on neutrino CCQE scattering to date. Measurements of the absolute cross section as a function of neutrino energy and the single differential cross section as a function of 4-momentum transfer squared are also provided, largely to facilitate comparison with prior measurements. This data is of particular use for understanding the axial-vector form factor of the nucleon as well as improving the simulation of low energy neutrino interactions on nuclear targets, which is of particular relevance for experiments searching for neutrino oscillations.