Results are reported based on a study of 3114 π−p events at 205 GeV/c in the National Accelerator Laboratory 30-in. bubble chamber. The measured π−p total and elastic cross sections are 24.0 ± 0.5 and 3.0 ± 0.3 mb, respectively. The elastic differential cross section has a slope of 9.0 ± 0.7 GeV−2 for 0.03≤−t≤0.6 GeV2. The average charged-particle multiplicity for the inelastic events is 8.02 ± 0.12.
From measurements of proton-proton elastic scattering at very small momentum transfers where the nuclear and Coulomb amplitudes interfere, we have deduced values of ρ, the ratio of the real to the imaginary forward nuclear amplitude, for energies from 50 to 400 GeV. We find that ρ increases from -0.157 ± 0.012 at 51.5 GeV to +0.039 ± 0.012 at 393 GeV, crossing zero at 280 ± 60 GeV.
We have measured π+p, π−p, and pp elastic scattering at an incident-beam momentum of 200 GeV/c in the region of −t, four-momentum transfer squared, from 0.021 to 0.665 (GeV/c)2. The data allow an investigation of the t dependence of the logarithmic forward slope parameter b≡(ddt)(lndσdt). In addition to standard parametrization, we use functional forms suggested by the additive quark model to fit the measured dσdt distributions. Within the context of this model we estimate the size of the clothed quark in the pion and proton. Limits on the elastic-scattering amplitude derived from unitarity bounds are checked, and no violations are observed.
We have measured the elastic cross section for pp, p¯p, π+p, π−p, K+p, and K−p scattering at incident momenta of 70, 100, 125, 150, 175, and 200 GeV/c. The range of the four-momentum transfer squared t varied with the beam momentum from 0.0016≤−t≤0.36 (GeV/c)2 at 200 GeV/c to 0.0018≤−t≤0.0625 (GeV/c)2 at 70 GeV/c. The conventional parametrization of the t dependence of the nuclear amplitude by a simple exponential in t was found to be inadequate. An excellent fit to the data was obtained by a parametrization motivated by the additive quark model. Using this parametrization we determined the ratio of the real to the imaginary part of the nuclear amplitude by the Coulomb-interference method.
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.
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 MINERvA collaboration reports a novel study of neutrino-nucleus charged-current deep inelastic scattering (DIS) using the same neutrino beam incident on targets of polystyrene, graphite, iron, and lead. Results are presented as ratios of C, Fe, and Pb to CH. The ratios of total DIS cross sections as a function of neutrino energy and flux-integrated differential cross sections as a function of the Bjorken scaling variable x are presented in the neutrino-energy range of 5 - 50 GeV. Good agreement is found between the data and predicted ratios, based on charged-lepton nucleus scattering, at medium x and low neutrino energies. However, the data rate appears depleted in the vicinity of the nuclear shadowing region, x < 0.1. This apparent deficit, reflected in the DIS cross-section ratio at high neutrino energy , is consistent with previous MINERvA observations and with the predicted onset of nuclear shadowing with the the axial-vector current in neutrino scattering.
A search has been made for direct photon production in pBe interactions at 200 and 300 GeV/ c over the kinematic region 1.5 < P ⊥ < 4.0 GeV/ c and −0.7 < X F < 0 (90° < θ cms < 160°). An excess of single photons above that which is predicted from the measured π 0 and η 0 production is observed. Theratio of γ / π 0 production is calculated assuming that the excess arises from direct photon production. We find that this ratio averages 0.070 ± 0.025 (including systematic errors) in this region of X F and P ⊥ for our 200 and 300 GeV/ c data. We have used our measured value of the η / π 0 ratio of 0.47 ± 0.10 in the determination of the γ / π 0 ratio. The variation of γ / π 0 with X F , P ⊥ , X R and θ cms presented.
Measurements of recognized π0 production in p-Be collisions for 0.1<X⊥<0.5 and −0.8<XF<0.0 at 200, 300, and 400 GeV/c are presented. These invariant cross sections are fitted by Edσdp3=A(1−XR)MP⊥−N over this range of X⊥ and XF with M=4.88±0.14 and N=8.90±0.10 independent of energy. No significant evidence for breaking of this scaling is observed over this large kinematic region at these energies.
Production of K^{+} mesons in charged-current \nu_{\mu} interactions on plastic scintillator (CH) is measured using MINERvA exposed to the low-energy NuMI beam at Fermilab. Timing information is used to isolate a sample of 885 charged-current events containing a stopping K^{+} which decays at rest. The differential cross section in K^{+} kinetic energy, d\sigma/dT_{K}, is observed to be relatively flat between 0 and 500 MeV. Its shape is in good agreement with the prediction by the \textsc{genie} neutrino event generator when final-state interactions are included, however the data rate is lower than the prediction by 15\%.
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