Study of neutrino interactions with the electronic detectors of the OPERA experiment

TL;DR

This paper reports on the analysis of muon-neutrino interactions in the OPERA experiment using electronic detectors, providing detailed measurements and comparisons with simulations to understand neutrino interaction characteristics.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive analysis of neutrino interactions with electronic detectors in OPERA, including identification, energy measurement, and comparison with Monte Carlo simulations.

Findings

Measured NC/CC ratio in neutrino interactions

Analyzed muon momentum and charge distributions

Compared energy and shower profiles with simulations

Abstract

The OPERA experiment is based on a hybrid technology combining electronic detectors and nuclear emulsions. OPERA collected muon-neutrino interactions during the 2008 and 2009 physics runs of the CNGS neutrino beam, produced at CERN with an energy range of about 5-35 GeV. A total of $5.3 \times 10^{19}$ protons on target equivalent luminosity has been analysed with the OPERA electronic detectors: scintillator strips target trackers and magnetic muon spectrometers equipped with resistive plate gas chambers and drift tubes, allowing a detailed reconstruction of muon-neutrino interactions. Charged Current (CC) and Neutral Current (NC) interactions are identified, using the measurements in the electronic detectors, and the NC/CC ratio is computed. The momentum distribution and the charge of the muon tracks produced in CC interactions are analysed. Calorimetric measurements of the visible energy are performed for both the CC and NC samples. For CC events the Bjorken-$y$ distribution and the hadronic shower profile are computed. The results are compared to a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the electronic detectors' response.