First Measurement of Inclusive Electron-Neutrino and Antineutrino Charged Current Differential Cross Sections in Charged Lepton Energy on Argon in MicroBooNE

TL;DR

This paper reports the first measurement of inclusive electron-neutrino and antineutrino charged-current cross sections on argon, providing data crucial for neutrino physics and detector calibration.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental measurement of differential cross sections for electron-neutrino interactions on argon across the full angular range.

Findings

Measured cross sections agree with GENIE, NuWro, and GiBUU predictions.

Provides data over full angular range and energy thresholds.

Enhances understanding of neutrino interactions with argon.

Abstract

We present the first measurement of the single-differential $\nu_e + \bar{\nu}_e$ charged-current inclusive cross sections on argon in electron or positron energy and in electron or positron scattering cosine over the full angular range. Data were collected using the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber located off-axis from the Fermilab Neutrinos at the Main Injector beam over an exposure of $2.0\times10^{20}$ protons on target. The signal definition includes a 60 MeV threshold on the $\nu_e$ or $\bar{\nu}_e$ energy and a 120 MeV threshold on the electron or positron energy. The measured total and differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the GENIE, NuWro, and GiBUU neutrino generators.