Measurements of total production cross sections for $\pi^{+}$+C, $\pi^{+}$+Al, $K^{+}$+C, and $K^{+}$+Al at 60 GeV/c and $\pi^{+}$+C and $\pi^{+}$+Al at 31 GeV/c

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of total production and inelastic cross sections for $^{+}$ and $K^{+}$ interactions with carbon and aluminum at 31 and 60 GeV/c, crucial for neutrino flux predictions in accelerator experiments.

Contribution

It provides new experimental cross section data at specific energies, improving the accuracy of neutrino flux modeling for long-baseline experiments.

Findings

Good agreement with previous measurements

Data enhances neutrino flux prediction accuracy

Supports current models of hadron interactions

Abstract

This paper presents several measurements of total production cross sections and total inelastic cross sections for the following reactions: $\pi^{+}$+C, $\pi^{+}$+Al, $K^{+}$+C, $K^{+}$+Al at 60 GeV/c, $\pi^{+}$+C and $\pi^{+}$+Al at 31 GeV/c . The measurements were made using the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN SPS. Comparisons with previous measurements are given and good agreement is seen. These interaction cross sections measurements are a key ingredient for neutrino flux prediction from the reinteractions of secondary hadrons in current and future accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino experiments.