First Measurement of the Ar$(e,e^\prime)X$ Cross Section at Jefferson Lab

TL;DR

This paper reports the first measurement of the $^{40}$Ar$(e,e^{\prime})$ cross section at Jefferson Lab, providing essential data for neutrino experiments involving liquid-argon detectors.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental double differential cross section data for argon at specific kinematics, crucial for modeling neutrino interactions with argon nuclei.

Findings

Measured the $^{40}$Ar$(e,e^{\prime})$ cross section at 2.222 GeV

Compared argon data with titanium and carbon in the same setup

Data covers quasielastic and delta production regions

Abstract

The success of the ambitious programs of both long- and short-baseline neutrino-oscillation experiments employing liquid-argon time-projection chambers will greatly rely on the precision with which the weak response of the argon nucleus can be estimated. In the E12-14-012 experiment at Jefferson Lab Hall A, we have studied the properties of the argon nucleus by scattering a high-quality electron beam off a high-pressure gaseous argon target. Here, we present the measured $^{40}$Ar$(e,e^{\prime})$ double differential cross section at incident electron energy $E=2.222$~GeV and scattering angle $\theta = 15.541^\circ$. The data cover a broad range of energy transfers, where quasielastic scattering and delta production are the dominant reaction mechanisms. The result for argon is compared to our previously reported cross sections for titanium and carbon, obtained in the same kinematical setup.