Measurement of $\nu_\mu$-induced charged-current neutral pion production cross sections on mineral oil at $E_\nu\in0.5-2.0$ GeV

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of neutrino-induced charged-current neutral pion production cross sections on mineral oil within 0.5-2.0 GeV, including total and differential cross sections, using a custom Cherenkov-ring fitter on a large event sample.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed flux-averaged cross section measurements for this process in the specified energy range, using a novel Cherenkov-ring fitting technique.

Findings

Total cross section at 0.965 GeV is (9.2 ± 0.3 (stat) ± 1.5 (syst)) × 10^{-39} cm^2/CH2.

Measured differential cross sections as functions of Q^2, muon, and pion kinematics.

Sample purity of 57% with 5810 candidate events.

Abstract

Using a custom 3 \v{C}erenkov-ring fitter, we report cross sections for $\nu_\mu$-induced charged-current single $\pi^0$ production on mineral oil (\chtwo) from a sample of 5810 candidate events with 57% signal purity over an energy range of $0.5-2.0$GeV. This includes measurements of the absolute total cross section as a function of neutrino energy, and flux-averaged differential cross sections measured in terms of $Q^2$, $\mu^-$ kinematics, and $\pi^0$ kinematics. The sample yields a flux-averaged total cross section of $(9.2\pm0.3_{stat.}\pm1.5_{syst.})\times10^{-39}$cm$^2$/CH$_2$ at mean neutrino energy of 0.965GeV.