Two different nuclear-medium effects are isolated using a low three-momentum transfer subsample of neutrino-carbon scattering data from the MINERvA neutrino experiment. The observed hadronic energy in charged-current $\nu_\mu$ interactions is combined with muon kinematics to permit separation of the quasielastic and $\Delta$(1232) resonance processes. First, we observe a small cross section at very low energy transfer that matches the expected screening effect of long-range nucleon correlations. Second, additions to the event rate in the kinematic region between the quasielastic and $\Delta$ resonance processes are needed to describe the data. The data in this kinematic region also has an enhanced population of multi-proton final states. Contributions predicted for scattering from a nucleon pair have both properties; the model tested in this analysis is a significant improvement but does not fully describe the data. We present the results as a double-differential cross section to enable further investigation of nuclear models. Improved description of the effects of the nuclear environment are required by current and future neutrino oscillation experiments.
The $\nu_\mu$ flux, in units 10$^{-5}$ / m$^{2}$ / P.O.T. / GeV.
Measured cross section per nucleon, in units 10$^{-42}$ cm$^2$ / GeV$^2$.
Single neutral pion production via muon antineutrino charged-current interactions in plastic scintillator (CH) is studied using the \minerva detector exposed to the NuMI low-energy, wideband antineutrino beam at Fermilab. Measurement of this process constrains models of neutral pion production in nuclei, which is important because the neutral-current analog is a background for $\bar{\nu}_e$ appearance oscillation experiments. The differential cross sections for $\pi^0$ momentum and production angle, for events with a single observed $\pi^0$ and no charged pions, are presented and compared to model predictions. These results comprise the first measurement of the $\pi^0$ kinematics for this process.
Flux-averaged differential cross section in $\pi^0$ momentum, $d\sigma/dp_{\pi^0}(10^{-40}\text{cm}^2/\text{nucleon}/(\text{GeV/c})$, for 1$\pi^0$ production with statistical (stat) and systematic (sys) uncertainties.
Flux-averaged differential cross section in $\pi^0$ angle, $d\sigma/d\theta_{\pi^0}(10^{-42}\text{cm}^2/\text{nucleon}/\text{deg.})$, for 1$\pi^0$ production with statistical (stat) and systematic (sys) uncertainties.