First Measurement of Neutrino and Antineutrino Coherent Charged Pion Production on Argon

TL;DR

This paper presents the first measurements of the cross sections for charged current coherent pion production by neutrinos and antineutrinos on argon, using the ArgoNeuT detector at Fermilab, providing new experimental data in this area.

Contribution

It reports the first experimental cross section measurements of neutrino and antineutrino coherent pion production on argon, expanding understanding of neutrino interactions with argon nuclei.

Findings

Measured neutrino cross section: $2.6^{+1.2}_{-1.0} imes 10^{-38} extrm{cm}^2$/Ar

Measured antineutrino cross section: $5.5^{+2.6}_{-2.1} imes 10^{-39} extrm{cm}^2$/Ar

Performed using the ArgoNeuT detector at Fermilab

Abstract

We report on the first cross section measurements for charged current coherent pion production by neutrinos and antineutrinos on argon. These measurements are performed using the ArgoNeuT detector exposed to the NuMI beam at Fermilab. The cross sections are measured to be $2.6^{+1.2}_{-1.0}(stat)^{+0.3}_{-0.4}(syst) \times 10^{-38} \textrm{cm}^{2}/\textrm{Ar}$ for neutrinos at a mean energy of $9.6$ GeV and $5.5^{+2.6}_{-2.1}(stat)^{+0.6}_{-0.7}(syst) \times 10^{-39} \textrm{cm}^{2}/\textrm{Ar}$ for antineutrinos at a mean energy of $3.6$ GeV.