MINERvA neutrino detector response measured with test beam data

TL;DR

This paper reports on measurements of the MINERvA detector's response to protons, pions, and electrons using test beam data, providing essential data for tuning simulations and understanding systematic uncertainties in neutrino cross section measurements.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed test beam response measurements of a scaled MINERvA detector prototype, improving simulation accuracy for neutrino experiments.

Findings

Detector response agrees with Monte Carlo simulations within 4%

Measured Birks' law parameter and tracking efficiency

Data helps refine systematic uncertainties in neutrino cross section analysis

Abstract

The MINERvA collaboration operated a scaled-down replica of the solid scintillator tracking and sampling calorimeter regions of the MINERvA detector in a hadron test beam at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. This article reports measurements with samples of protons, pions, and electrons from 0.35 to 2.0 GeV/c momentum. The calorimetric response to protons, pions, and electrons are obtained from these data. A measurement of the parameter in Birks' law and an estimate of the tracking efficiency are extracted from the proton sample. Overall the data are well described by a Geant4-based Monte Carlo simulation of the detector and particle interactions with agreements better than 4%, though some features of the data are not precisely modeled. These measurements are used to tune the MINERvA detector simulation and evaluate systematic uncertainties in support of the MINERvA neutrino cross section measurement program.