Neutrino-Electron Scattering in MINERvA for Constraining the NuMI Neutrino Flux
- Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)
Neutrino-electron elastic scattering is used as a reference process to constrain the neutrino flux at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam observed by the MINERvA experiment. Prediction of the neutrino flux at accelerator experiments from other methods has a large uncertainty, and this uncertainty degrades measurements of neutrino oscillations and neutrino cross-sections. Neutrino-electron elastic scattering is a rare process, but its cross-section is precisely known. With a sample corresponding to $$3.5\times10^{20}$$ protons on target in the NuMI low-energy neutrino beam, a sample of $120$ $$\nu e^-\to\nu e^-$$ candidate events were observed with a predicted background of $$\approx 30$$ events. This results in a flux constraint with $$13\%$$ fractional precision, which is comparable to the uncertainty in other prediction methods. This technique will be more precise in MINERvA's upcoming higher statistics run in the NuMI medium energy beam and could be valuable for planned neutrino oscillation experiments.
- Research Organization:
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- OSTI ID:
- 1248363
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-THESIS-2013-36; 1318418
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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