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Abstract
We have studied the muon neutrino and antineutrino quasi-elastic (QEL) scattering reactions (νμn→μ−p and \(\bar{\nu }_{\mu}p\to\mu^{+}n\)) using a set of experimental data collected by the NOMAD Collaboration. We have performed measurements of the cross-section of these processes on a nuclear target (mainly carbon) normalizing it to the total νμ (\(\bar{\nu}_{\mu}\)) charged-current cross section. The results for the flux-averaged QEL cross sections in the (anti)neutrino energy interval 3–100 GeV are \(\langle \sigma_{\mathrm{qel}}\rangle_{\nu_{\mu}}=(0.92\pm0.02(\mathrm{stat})\pm0.06(\mathrm{syst}))\times10^{-38}~\mathrm{cm}^{2}\) and \(\langle\sigma_{\mathrm{qel}}\rangle_{\bar{\nu}_{\mu}}=(0.81\pm0.05(\mathrm{stat})\pm0.09(\mathrm{syst}))\times10^{-38}~\mathrm{cm}^{2}\) for neutrino and antineutrino, respectively. The axial mass parameter MA was extracted from the measured quasi-elastic neutrino cross section. The corresponding result is MA=1.05±0.02(stat)±0.06(syst) GeV. It is consistent with the axial mass values recalculated from the antineutrino cross section and extracted from the pure Q2 shape analysis of the high purity sample of νμ quasi-elastic 2-track events, but has smaller systematic error and should be quoted as the main result of this work. Our measured MA is found to be in good agreement with the world average value obtained in previous deuterium filled bubble chamber experiments. The NOMAD measurement of MA is lower than those recently published by K2K and MiniBooNE Collaborations. However, within the large errors quoted by these experiments on MA, these results are compatible with the more precise NOMAD value.
Details
1 JINR, Dubna, Russia
2 LPNHE, Univ. of Paris VI and VII, Paris, France; JINR, Dubna, Russia
3 Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
4 CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
5 LPNHE, Univ. of Paris VI and VII, Paris, France
6 Univ. of Padova and INFN, Padova, Italy
7 JINR, Dubna, Russia; Univ. of Florence and INFN, Florence, Italy
8 Inst. for High Energy Physics, Protvino, Moscow Region, Russia
9 DAPNIA, Saclay, France
10 LAPP, Annecy, France
11 University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
12 CERN, Geneva, Switzerland; University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
13 Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD, USA
14 Univ. of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
15 ETH Zùrich, Zùrich, Switzerland; Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, USA
16 UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
17 Univ. of Pavia and INFN, Pavia, Italy
18 Univ. of Pisa and INFN, Pisa, Italy
19 IFIC, Valencia, Spain; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
20 University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
21 Univ. of Urbino, Urbino, and INFN, Florence, Italy; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
22 Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, USA
23 Univ. of Pisa and INFN, Pisa, Italy; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
24 LPNHE, Univ. of Paris VI and VII, Paris, France; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
25 Dortmund Univ., Dortmund, Germany; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
26 Dortmund Univ., Dortmund, Germany
27 Inst. for Nuclear Research, INR, Moscow, Russia; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
28 Univ. of Florence and INFN, Florence, Italy
29 IFIC, Valencia, Spain
30 Inst. for Nuclear Research, INR, Moscow, Russia
31 Inst. for Nuclear Research, INR, Moscow, Russia; Univ. of Pavia and INFN, Pavia, Italy
32 LAPP, Annecy, France; JINR, Dubna, Russia
33 Rudjer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
34 Univ. of Calabria and INFN, Cosenza, Italy
35 Univ. of Urbino, Urbino, and INFN, Florence, Italy
36 Roma Tre University and INFN, Rome, Italy
37 ETH Zùrich, Zùrich, Switzerland
38 ETH Zùrich, Zùrich, Switzerland; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
39 Univ. of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
40 Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD, USA; University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
41 University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
42 UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA; JINR, Dubna, Russia
43 Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, USA; CERN, Geneva, Switzerland