NC Coherent pi0 Production in the MiniBooNE Antineutrino Data
Abstract
Description
The single largest background to future $\bar{ν_μ}\to \bar{ν_e}$ ($ν_μ\to ν_e$) oscillation searches is neutral current (NC) $π^{0}$ production. MiniBooNE, which began taking antineutrino data in January 2006, has the world's largest sample of reconstructed $π^{0}$'s produced by antineutrinos. These neutral pions are primarily produced through the $Δ$ resonance but can also be created through ``coherent production.'' The latter process is the coherent sum of glancing scatters of antineutrinos off a neutron or proton, in which the nucleus is kept intact but a $π^{0}$ is created. A signature of this process is a $π^{0}$ which is highly forward-going. It is advantageous to study coherent production using antineutrinos rather than neutrinos because the ratio of coherent to resonant scattering is enhanced in antineutrino running. The first measurement of NC coherent $π^{0}$ production in the MiniBooNE antineutrino data is discussed here.
4 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of the 43rd Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Italy, March 1-8, 2008
4 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of the 43rd Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Italy, March 1-8, 2008