We report an improved measurement of the inverse muon decay process, ν μ +e→ μ − + ν e , at the Fermilab Tevatron. The rate of this reaction with respect to the ν μ -N charged current interaction is measured to be (0.1245±0.0057(stat.)±0.0031 (sys.)) × 10 −2 . The measurement confirms the standard model predictions for the Lorentz structure of the weak current, the helicity of the neutrino, and the energy dependence of the cross section.
The NuTeV experiment at Fermilab has used a sign-selected neutrino beam to perform a search for the lepton number violating process $\bar{\nu}_mu e^- \to \mu^- \bar{\nu}_e$, and to measure the cross-section of the Standard Model inverse muon decay process $\nu_{\mu} e^- \to \mu^- \nu_e$. NuTeV measures the inverse muon decay asymptotic cross-section $\sigma/E$ to be 13.8 $\pm$ 1.2 $\pm$ 1.4 x $10^{-42} cm^2$/GeV. The experiment also observes no evidence for lepton number violation and places one of the most restrictive limits on the LNV/IMD cross-section ratio at $\sigma (\bar{\nu}_{\mu} e^- \to \mu^- \bar{\nu}_e) /\sigma (\nu_{\mu}e^- \to \mu^- \nu_e$) $\le$ 1.7% at 90% C.L. for V-A couplings and $\le$ 0.6% for scalar couplings.
The CCFR Collaboration presents a measurement of scaling violations of the nonsinglet structure function and a comparison to the predictions of perturbative QCD. The value of ΛQCD, from the nonsinglet evolution with Q2>15 GeV2 and in the modified minimal-subtraction renormalization scheme, is found to be 210±28(stat)±41(syst) MeV.
We have measured the strange-quark content of the nucleon, ηs=−0.08+0.012, and the Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element ‖Vcd‖=0.220−0.018+0.015 using a sample of 1797 νμ- and ν¯μ-induced μ−μ+ events with Pμ≥9 GeV/c and 30≤Eν≤600 GeV. The data are consistent with the slow-rescaling hypothesis of charm production in ν-N scattering and within this formalism yield a value of the charm-quark mass parameter mc=1.31−0.48+0.64 GeV/c2. .AE
A high-statistics study by the Columbia-Chicago-Fermilab-Rochester Collaboration of opposite-sign dimuon events induced by neutrino-nucleon scattering at the Fermilab Tevatron is presented. A sample of 5044 νμ and 1062 ν¯μ induced μ∓μ± events with Pμ1≥9 GeV/c, Pμ2≥5 GeV/c, 30≤Eν≤600 GeV, and 〈Q2〉=22.2 GeV2/c2 is observed. The data support the slow-rescaling model of charm production with a value of mc=1.31±0.24 GeV2/c2. The first measurement of the Q2 dependence of the nucleon strange quark distribution xs(x) is presented. The data yield the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element ‖Vcd‖=0.209±0.012 and the nucleon fractional strangeness content ηs=0.064−0.007+0.008.
In a sample of 670 000 charged-current neutrino events, 101 μ−μ− events have been observed, with 30 GeV<Eν<600 GeV and Pμ>9 GeV/c for both muons. After background subtraction, 18.5±13.9 events remain, yielding a prompt rate of (5.5±4.1)×10−5 per charged-current event. A sample of 124 000 antineutrino events yields 15 μ+μ+ events, giving 6.4±4.2 events after background subtraction and a prompt rate of (1.0±0.7)×10−4 per charged-current event. The numbers and kinematic distributions of these events are consistent with standard model sources.
The rate of neutrino- and antineutrino-induced prompt same-sign dimuon production in steel was measured using a sample of μ−μ− events and 25 μ+μ+ events withPμ>9 GeV/c, produced in 1.5 millionvμ and 0.3 million\(\overline {v_\mu}\) induced charged-current events with energies between 30 GeV and 600 GeV. The data were obtained with the Chicago-Columbia-Fermilab-Rochester (CCFR) neutrino detector in the Fermilab Tevatron Quadrupole Triplet Neutrino Beam during experiments E 744 and E 770. After background subtraction, the prompt rate of same-sign dimuon production is (0.53±0.24)×10−4 pervμ charged-current event and (0.52±0.33)×10−4 per\(\overline {v_\mu}\) charged-current event. The kinematic distributions of the same-sign dimuon events after background subtraction are consistent with those of the non-prompt background due to meson decays in the hadron shower of a charged-current event. Calculations ofc\(\bar c\) gluon bremsstrahlung, based on improved measurements of the charm mass parameter and nucleon structure functions by the CCFR collaboration, yield a prompt rate of (0.09±0.39)×10−4 pervμ charged-current event. In this case,c\(\bar c\) gluon bremsstrahlung is probably not an observable source of prompt same-sign dimuons.
We report a precise measurement of the weak mixing angle from the ratio of neutral current to charged current inclusive cross-sections in deep-inelastic neutrino-nucleon scattering. The data were gathered at the CCFR neutrino detector in the Fermilab quadrupole-triplet neutrino beam, with neutrino energies up to 600 GeV. Using the on-shell definition, ${\rm sin ~2\theta_W} \equiv 1 - \frac{{\rm M_W} ~2}{{\rm M_Z} ~2}$, we obtain ${\rm sin ~2\theta_W} = 0.2218 \pm 0.0025 ({\rm stat.}) \pm 0.0036 ({\rm exp.\: syst.}) \pm 0.0040 ({\rm model})$.
We present a new measurement of the difference between the nucleon strange and antistrange quark distributions from dimuon events recorded by the NuTeV experiment at Fermilab. This analysis is the first to use a complete next to leading order QCD d escription of charm production from neutrino scattering. Dimuon events in neutrino deep inelastic scattering allow direct and independent study of the strange and antistrange content of the nucleon. We find a positive strange asymmetry with a significance of 1.6sigma . We also report a new measurement of the charm mass.
The NuTeV experiment at Fermilab has obtained a unique high statistics sample of neutrino and anti-neutrino interactions using its high-energy sign-selected beam. We present a measurement of the differential cross section for charged-current neutrino and anti-neutrino scattering from iron. Structure functions, F_2(x,Q^2) and xF_3(x,Q^2), are determined by fitting the inelasticity, y, dependence of the cross sections. This measurement has significantly improved systematic precision as a consequence of more precise understanding of hadron and muon energy scales.
We extract a set of values for the Gross-Llewellyn Smith sum rule at different values of 4-momentum transfer squared ($Q^{2}$), by combining revised CCFR neutrino data with data from other neutrino deep-inelastic scattering experiments for $1 < Q^2 < 15 GeV^2/c^2$. A comparison with the order $\alpha^{3}_{s}$ theoretical predictions yields a determination of $\alpha_{s}$ at the scale of the Z-boson mass of $0.114 \pm^{.009}_{.012}$. This measurement provides a new and useful test of perturbative QCD at low $Q^2$, because of the low uncertainties in the higher order calculations.
We report on the first observation of open charm production in neutral current deep inelastic neutrino scattering as seen in the NuTeV detector at Fermilab. The production rate is shown to be consistent with a pure gluon-$% Z^{0}$ boson production model, and the observed level of charm production is used to determine the effective charm mass. As part of our analysis, we also obtain a new measurement for the proton-nucleon charm production cross section at $\sqrt{s}=38.8$ GeV.
We present evidence for the diffractive processes nu_mu Fe -> mu^- D_s^+ (D_s^*+) Fe and nubar_mu Fe -> mu^+ D_s^- (D_s^*-) Fe using the Fermilab SSQT neutrino beam and the Lab E neutrino detector. We observe the neutrino trident reactions nu_mu Fe -> nu_mu mu^- mu^+ Fe and nubar_mu Fe -> nubar_mu mu^+ mu^- Fe at rates consistent with Standard Model expectations. We see no evidence for neutral-current production of J/psi via either diffractive or deep inelastic scattering mechanisms.
We present measurements of the semi-inclusive cross sections for νμ- and ν¯μ-nucleon deep inelastic scattering interactions with two oppositely charged muons in the final state. These events dominantly arise from the production of a charm quark during the scattering process. The measurement was obtained from the analysis of 5102 νμ-induced and 1458 ν¯μ-induced events collected with the NuTeV detector exposed to a sign-selected beam at the Fermilab Tevatron. We also extract a cross-section measurement from a reanalysis of 5030 νμ-induced and 1060 ν¯μ-induced events collected from the exposure of the same detector to a quad-triplet beam by the Chicago Columbia Fermilab Rochester (CCFR) experiment. The results are combined to obtain the most statistically precise measurement of neutrino-induced dimuon production cross sections to date. These measurements should be of broad use to phenomenologists interested in the dynamics of charm production, the strangeness content of the nucleon, and the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element Vcd.
The MiniBooNE Collaboration reports first results of a search for $\nu_e$ appearance in a $\nu_\mu$ beam. With two largely independent analyses, we observe no significant excess of events above background for reconstructed neutrino energies above 475 MeV. The data are consistent with no oscillations within a two neutrino appearance-only oscillation model.
The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports a total excess of $638.0 \pm 132.8$ electron-like events ($4.8 \sigma$) from a data sample corresponding to $18.75 \times 10^{20}$ protons-on-target in neutrino mode, which is a 46\% increase in the data sample with respect to previously published results, and $11.27 \times 10^{20}$ protons-on-target in antineutrino mode. The additional statistics allow several studies to address questions on the source of the excess. First, we provide two-dimensional plots in visible energy and cosine of the angle of the outgoing lepton, which can provide valuable input to models for the event excess. Second, we test whether the excess may arise from photons that enter the detector from external events or photons exiting the detector from $\pi^0$ decays in two model independent ways. Beam timing information shows that almost all of the excess is in time with neutrinos that interact in the detector. The radius distribution shows that the excess is distributed throughout the volume, while tighter cuts on the fiducal volume increase the significance of the excess. We conclude that models of the event excess based on entering and exiting photons are disfavored.
We present the first measurement of the atomic mass dependence of central \Xi~- and \overline{\Xi}~+ production. It is measured using a sample of 22,459 \Xi~-'s and \overline{\Xi}~+'s produced in collisions between a 250 GeV \pi~- beam and targets of beryllium, aluminum, copper, and tungsten. The relative cross sections are fit to the two parameter function \sigma_0 A~\alpha, where A is the atomic mass. We measure \alpha = 0.924+-0.020+-0.025, for Feynman-x in the range -0.09 < x_F < 0.15.
Using data from Fermilab fixed-target experiment E769, we have measured particle-antiparticle production asymmetries for Lambda0 hyperons in 250 GeV/c pi+-, K+- and p -- nucleon interactions. The asymmetries are measured as functions of Feynman-x (x_F) and p_t^2 over the ranges -0.12<=x_F<=0.12 and 0<=p_t^2<=3 (GeV/c)^2 (for positive beam) and -0.12<=x_F<=0.4 and 0<=p_t^2<=10 (GeV/c)^2 (for negative beam). We find substantial asymmetries, even at x_F around zero. We also observe leading-particle-type asymmetries. These latter effects are qualitatively as expected from valence-quark content of the target and variety of projectiles studied.
>From a sample of $2722 \pm 78$ $\Lambda_c~+$ decaying to the $pK~-\pi~+$ final state, we have observed, in the hadroproduction experiment E791 at Fermilab, $143 \pm 20$ $\Sigma_c~0$ and $122 \pm 18$ $\Sigma_c~{++}$ through their decays to $\Lambda_c~+ \pi~{\pm}$. The mass difference $M(\Sigma_c~0) - M(\Lambda_c~+$) is measured to be $(167.38\pm 0.29\pm 0.15)\,\mbox{MeV}$; for $M(\Sigma_c~{++}) - M(\Lambda_c~+)$, we find $(167.76\pm 0.29\pm0.15)\,\mbox{MeV}$. The rate of $\Lambda_c~+$ production from decays of the $\Sigma_c$ triplet is $(22\pm 2\pm 3)\,\mbox{\%}$ of the total $\Lambda_c~+$ production assuming equal rate of production from all three, as measured for $\Sigma_c~0$ and $\Sigma_c~{++}$. We do not observe a statistically significant $\Sigma_c$ baryon-antibaryon production asymmetry. The $x_F$ and $p_t~2$ spectra of $\Lambda_c~+$ from $\Sigma_c$ decays are observed to be similar to those for all $\Lambda_c~+$'s produced.
We present asymmetries between the production of D+ and D- mesons in Fermilab experiment E791 as a function of xF and pt**2. The data used here consist of 74,000 fully-reconstructed charmed mesons produced by a 500 GeV/c pi- beam on C and Pt foils. The measurements are compared to results of models which predict differences between the production of heavy-quark mesons that have a light quark in common with the beam (leading particles) and those that do not (non-leading particles). While the default models do not agree with our data, we can reach agreement with one of them, PYTHIA, by making a limited number of changes to parameters used.
We have measured the form factor ratios r_V = V(0)/A_1(0) and r_2 = A_2(0)/A_1(0) for the decay D_s^+ -> phi ell^+ nu_ell, phi -> K^+ K^-, using data from charm hadroproduction experiment E791 at Fermilab. Results are based on 144 signal and 22 background events in the electron channel and 127 signal and 34 background events in the muon channel. We combine the measurements from both lepton channels to obtain r_V = 2.27 +- 0.35 +- 0.22 and r_2 = 1.57 +- 0.25 +- 0.19.
We measure the neutral D total forward cross section and the differential cross sections as function of Feynman-x ($x_F$) and transverse momentum squared for 500 GeV/c $\pi^-$-nucleon interactions. The results are obtained from 88990+-460 reconstructed neutral D mesons from Fermilab experiment E791 using the decay channels $D\to K^-\pi^+$ and $D\to K^-\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+$ (and charge conjugates). We extract fit parameters from the differential cross sections and provide the first direct measurement of the turnover point in the $x_F$ distribution, 0.0131+-0.0038. We measure an absolute $D^0 + \bar{D^0}$ ($x_F > 0$) cross section of 15.4+1.8-2.3 microbarns/nucleon (assuming a linear A dependence). The differential and total forward cross sections are compared to theoretical predictions and to results of previous experiments.
We study the charge correlations between charm mesons produced in 500 GeV pi- - N interactions and the charged pions produced closest to them in phase space. With 110,000 fully reconstructed D mesons from experiment E791 at Fermilab, the correlations are studied as functions of the Dpi - D mass difference and of Feynman x. We observe significant correlations which appear to originate from a combination of sources including fragmentation dynamics, resonant decays, and charge of the beam.
We present a measurement of asymmetries in the production of $\Lambda_c^+$ and $\Lambda_c^-$ baryons in 500 GeV/c $\pi^-$--nucleon interactions from the E791 experiment at Fermilab. The asymmetries were measured as functions of Feynman x ($x_F$) and transverse momentum squared ($p_T^2$) using a sample of $1819 \pm 62$ $\Lambda_c$'s observed in the decay channel $\Lambda_c \to pK^-\pi^+$. We observe more $\Lambda_c^+$ than $\Lambda_c^-$ baryons, with an asymmetry of $(12.7\pm3.4\pm1.3) %$ independent of $x_F$ and $p_T^2$ in our kinematical range $(-0.1 < x_F < 0.6$ and $0.0 < p_T^2 < 8.0 (GeV/c)^2$). This $\Lambda_c$ asymmetry measurement is the first with data in both the positive and negative $x_F$ regions.
We report differential cross sections for the production of D*(2010) produced in 500 GeV/c pi^- nucleon interactions from experiment E791 at Fermilab, as functions of Feynman-x (x_F) and transverse momentum squared (p_T^2). We also report the D* +/- charge asymmetry and spin-density matrix elements as functions of these variables. Investigation of the spin-density matrix elements shows no evidence of polarization. The average values of the spin alignment are \eta= 0.01 +- 0.02 and -0.01 +- 0.02 for leading and non-leading particles, respectively.