Measurement of the Triple-Differential Cross Section of Muon Neutrino Charged Current Interactions with Low Hadronic Activity in the NO$$\nu$$A Near Detector

Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 2025

OSTI ID:3010187

Lesmeister, James Ryan ^[1]

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1. Houston U.

This dissertation describes the analysis and measurement of the triple-differential cross-section of the $$\nu_\mu CC$$ interaction with Low Hadronic Activity (maximum kinetic energy of 250 MeV for protons and 175 MeV for pions) in the NOvA Near Detector. This cross-section is reported in bins of Muon Kinematics and available hadronic energy. The data corresponds to an accumulated $$14.2\times10^{20}$$ protons-on-target (POT) in the neutrino mode of the NuMI beam, with a narrow band of neutrino energies peaked at 1.8 GeV. The analysis provides a sample of neutrino–nucleus interactions with an enhanced fraction of quasi-elastic (QE) and two-particle-two-hole (2p2h) interactions and a suppression of resonant pion production (RES) and deep inelastic scattering (DIS) interactions. This enhancement of QE and 2p2h allows for quantitative comparisons with various models of these processes. We find strong disagreement between data and theory-based models in the forward muon direction, especially for the 0.2-0.4 GeV available hadronic energy region.

• Research Organization: Houston U.
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy
• DOE Contract Number: 89243024CSC000002
• OSTI ID: 3010187
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-THESIS-2025-15; oai:inspirehep.net:3090254
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English