Measurement of inclusive charged-current $\nu_\mu$ cross sections as a function of muon kinematics at $<E_\nu>\sim6~GeV$ on hydrocarbon

TL;DR

This paper reports detailed measurements of muon neutrino charged-current interactions on hydrocarbon at around 6 GeV, revealing discrepancies with existing neutrino interaction models and providing new data for model validation.

Contribution

It provides the first extensive double-differential cross sections at this energy range on hydrocarbon, challenging current neutrino interaction generators.

Findings

Data extend kinematic range for model testing.

Significant discrepancies observed between data and generator predictions.

Highlights need for improved modeling of nuclear effects.

Abstract

MINERvA presents a new analysis of inclusive charged-current neutrino interactions on a hydrocarbon target. We report single and double-differential cross sections in muon transverse and longitudinal momentum. These measurements are compared to neutrino interaction generator predictions from GENIE, NuWro, GiBUU, and NEUT. In addition, comparisons against models with different treatments of multi-nucleon correlations, nuclear effects, resonant pion production, and deep inelastic scattering are presented. The data recorded corresponds to $10.61\times10^{20}$ protons on target with a peak neutrino energy of approximately 6 GeV. The higher energy and larger statistics of these data extend the kinematic range for model testing beyond previous MINERvA inclusive charged-current measurements. The results are not well modeled by several generator predictions using a variety of input models.