New Perspectives 2020

Jul 20 – 21, 2020
US/Central timezone

Toward a differential measurement of the electron neutrino CC1eNp cross section in MicroBooNE

Jul 21, 2020, 4:45 PM
15m

Katrina Miller

Description

MicroBooNE, the longest running liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC), is the first of several detectors in Fermilab’s leading-edge LArTPC program working toward stringent measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters. At energy scales relevant to accelerator-based experiments, charged current (CC) interactions producing an electron and at least one proton (1eNp) in the final state are a dominant contribution to $\nu_{e}$ event rates. To date, no experimental verification of the CC1eNp cross section on argon currently exists, though such a measurement is crucial for next-generation LArTPCs to reach discovery precision in the $\nu_{e}$ appearance channel. While MicroBooNE’s primary physics analyses utilize the on-axis Booster Neutrino Beam, a significant neutrino flux is also received from a higher energy, off-axis beam called NuMI. The greater $\nu_{e}$ to $\nu_{\mu}$ ratio of the NuMI beam provides a unique opportunity for MicroBooNE to perform world-leading measurements of $\nu_{e}$ cross sections. This work presents a selection of NuMI events as progress toward the first differential measurement of CC1eNp interactions in argon, demonstrating our ability to successfully measure & reconstruct electron neutrinos in MicroBooNE.

Katrina Miller