Measurement of electron neutrino quasielastic and quasielastic-like scattering on hydrocarbon at $\langle E_{\nu} \rangle $ = 3.6 GeV

TL;DR

This paper presents the first direct measurement of electron-neutrino quasielastic scattering on hydrocarbon at an average energy of 3.6 GeV, providing crucial data for neutrino interaction models and oscillation experiments.

Contribution

It provides the first direct measurement of electron-neutrino quasielastic scattering on hydrocarbon at ~3.6 GeV, testing lepton universality and validating neutrino interaction models.

Findings

Data are consistent with lepton universality.

Results agree with GENIE predictions.

Provides differential cross sections in key variables.

Abstract

The first direct measurement of electron-neutrino quasielastic and quasielastic-like scattering on hydrocarbon in the few-GeV region of incident neutrino energy has been carried out using the MINERvA detector in the NuMI beam at Fermilab. The flux-integrated differential cross sections in electron production angle, electron energy and $Q^{2}$ are presented. The ratio of the quasielastic, flux-integrated differential cross section in $Q^{2}$ for $\nu_{e}$ with that of similarly-selected $\nu_{\mu}$-induced events from the same exposure is used to probe assumptions that underpin conventional treatments of charged-current $\nu_{e}$ interactions used by long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. The data are found to be consistent with lepton universality and are well-described by the predictions of the neutrino event generator GENIE.