Measurement of $K^{+}$ production in charged-current $\nu_{\mu}$ interactions

TL;DR

This paper measures K^{+} meson production in charged-current u_{} interactions on plastic scintillator, finding a flat differential cross section and a 15% lower rate than predictions, providing insights into neutrino interaction modeling.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of K^{+} production in u_{} interactions, comparing results with neutrino event generator predictions including final-state interactions.

Findings

Differential cross section in K^{+} kinetic energy is relatively flat between 0 and 500 MeV.

Measured data rate is 15% lower than the GENIE prediction.

Good agreement in shape but not in absolute rate with theoretical models.

Abstract

Production of K^{+} mesons in charged-current \nu_{\mu} interactions on plastic scintillator (CH) is measured using MINERvA exposed to the low-energy NuMI beam at Fermilab. Timing information is used to isolate a sample of 885 charged-current events containing a stopping K^{+} which decays at rest. The differential cross section in K^{+} kinetic energy, d\sigma/dT_{K}, is observed to be relatively flat between 0 and 500 MeV. Its shape is in good agreement with the prediction by the \textsc{genie} neutrino event generator when final-state interactions are included, however the data rate is lower than the prediction by 15\%.