Measurement of Total and Differential Cross Sections of Neutrino and Antineutrino Coherent $\pi^\pm$ Production on Carbon

TL;DR

This paper measures total and differential cross sections for neutrino and antineutrino coherent pion production on carbon, confirming theoretical predictions and providing detailed energy and kinematic dependence data.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed measurements of neutrino and antineutrino coherent pion production cross sections on carbon across a wide energy range, validating theoretical models.

Findings

Neutrino and antineutrino cross sections are nearly equal at finite Q^2.

Measured cross sections increase with neutrino energy from 2 to 20 GeV.

Q^2 dependence supports Adler's PCAC hypothesis.

Abstract

Neutrino induced coherent charged pion production on nuclei, $\overline{\nu}_\mu A\to\mu^\pm\pi^\mp A$, is a rare inelastic interaction in which the four-momentum squared transfered to the nucleus is nearly zero, leaving it intact. We identify such events in the scintillator of MINERvA by reconstructing |t| from the final state pion and muon momenta and by removing events with evidence of energetic nuclear recoil or production of other final state particles. We measure the total neutrino and antineutrino cross sections as a function of neutrino energy between 2 and 20 GeV and measure flux integrated differential cross sections as a function of $Q^2$, $E_\pi$ and $\theta_\pi$. The $Q^2$ dependence and equality of the neutrino and anti-neutrino cross-sections at finite $Q^2$ provide a confirmation of Adler's PCAC hypothesis.