# Measurement of Neutrino and Antineutrino Total Charged-current Cross Sections on Carbon with MINERvA

Ren, Lu (2017) Measurement of Neutrino and Antineutrino Total Charged-current Cross Sections on Carbon with MINERvA. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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## Abstract

This thesis presents a measurement of charged-current inclusive cross sections of muon neutrino and antineutrino interaction on carbon, and antineutrino to neutrino cross section ratio, $r$, in the energy range 2 - 22 GeV, with data collected in the MINERvA experiment. The dataset corresponds to an exposure of 3.2$\times 10^{20}$ protons on target (POT) for neutrinos and 1.0$\times 10^{20}$ POT for antineutrinos.

Measurement of neutrino and antineutrino charged-current inclusive cross sections provides essential constraints for future long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment at a few GeV energy range. Our measured antineutrino cross section has an uncertainty in the range 6.1\% - 10.5\% and is the most precise measurement below 6~GeV to date. The measured $r$ has an uncertainty of 5.0\% - 7.5\%. This is the first measurement below 6~GeV since Gargamelle in 1970s.

The cross sections are measured as a function of neutrino energy by dividing the efficiency corrected charged-current sample with extracted fluxes. Fluxes are obtained using the low-$\nu$ method, which uses low hadronic energy subsamples of charged-current inclusive sample to extract flux. Measured cross sections show good agreement with the prediction of neutrino interaction models above 7 GeV, and are about 10\% below the model below 7 GeV. The measured $r$ agrees with the GENIE model over the whole energy region. The measured cross sections and $r$ are compared with world data.

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## Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
Ren, Lulur3@pitt.edulur30000-0003-1709-7673
ETD Committee:
Committee MemberHan, Taothan@pitt.eduthan
Committee MemberMorningstar, Colincolin_morningstar@cmu.edu
Committee MemberKosowsky, Arthurkosowsky@pitt.edukosowsky
Date: 1 July 2017
Date Type: Publication
Defense Date: 29 August 2016
Approval Date: 1 July 2017
Submission Date: 12 April 2017
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Number of Pages: 224
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Physics
Degree: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: cross section, neutrino
Date Deposited: 01 Jul 2017 23:53