Measurement of \nu_\mu and \bar\nu_\mu induced neutral current single $\pi^0$ production cross sections on mineral oil at E_\nu O(1 GeV)

TL;DR

This paper presents the first absolute cross section measurements for neutral current single c0 production induced by neutrino and antineutrino interactions on mineral oil at energies around 1 GeV, providing detailed differential and total cross sections.

Contribution

It provides the first absolute cross sections for NC c0 production on CH_2 at these energies, including differential measurements and corrections for final state interactions.

Findings

Total cross section for c0 production by bc_ u: (4.76 b1 0.05_{stat} b1 0.76_{sys}) d7 10^{-40} cm^2/nucleon.

Total cross section for c0 production by ar{bc}_ u: (1.48 b1 0.05_{stat} b1 0.23_{sys}) d7 10^{-40} cm^2/nucleon.

Includes measurements of neutrino and antineutrino total cross sections for incoherent NC 1c0 production with final state interaction corrections.

Abstract

MiniBooNE reports the first absolute cross sections for neutral current single \pi^0 production on CH_2 induced by neutrino and antineutrino interactions measured from the largest sets of NC \pi^0 events collected to date. The principal result consists of differential cross sections measured as functions of \pi^0 momentum and \pi^0 angle averaged over the neutrino flux at MiniBooNE. We find total cross sections of (4.76+/-0.05_{stat}+/-0.76_{sys})*10^{-40} cm^2/nucleon at a mean energy of <E_\nu>=808 MeV and (1.48+/-0.05_{stat}+/-0.23_{sys})*10^{-40} cm^2/nucleon at a mean energy of <E_\nu>=664 MeV for \nu_\mu and \bar\nu_\mu induced production, respectively. In addition, we have included measurements of the neutrino and antineutrino total cross sections for incoherent exclusive NC 1\pi^0 production corrected for the effects of final state interactions to compare to prior results.