Measurement of Muon Neutrino Quasi-Elastic Scattering on a Hydrocarbon Target at E_{\nu} ~ 3.5 GeV

TL;DR

This paper measures muon neutrino quasi-elastic scattering on hydrocarbons at around 3.5 GeV, revealing deviations from simple models and indications of complex final states.

Contribution

First measurement of differential cross-section for muon neutrino quasi-elastic scattering at this energy with detailed final state analysis.

Findings

Measured dσ/dQ^2 deviates from relativistic Fermi gas model

Observed excess of energy near the vertex indicating multiple protons

Identified discrepancies suggesting more complex nuclear effects

Abstract

We report a study of muon neutrino charged-current quasi-elastic events in the segmented scintillator inner tracker of the MINERvA experiment running in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. The events were selected by requiring a {\mu}^- and low calorimetric recoil energy separated from the interaction vertex. We measure the flux-averaged differential cross-section, d{\sigma}/dQ^2, and study the low energy particle content of the final state. Deviations are found between the measured d{\sigma}/dQ^2 and the expectations of a model of independent nucleons in a relativistic Fermi gas. We also observe an excess of energy near the vertex consistent with multiple protons in the final state.