Improved constraint on the M i N e Rν A medium energy neutrino flux using ν ¯ e- → ν ¯ e- data

Abstract

Processes with precisely known cross sections, like neutrino-electron elastic scattering ($\ensuremath{\nu}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\nu}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$) and inverse muon decay (${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}$) have been used by $\mathrm{M}\mathrm{I}\mathrm{N}\mathrm{E}\mathrm{R}\ensuremath{\nu}\mathrm{A}$ to constrain the uncertainty on the neutrinos at the main injector (NuMI) neutrino beam flux. This work presents a new measurement of neutrino elastic scattering with electrons using the medium energy ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$-enhanced NuMI beam. A sample of 578 events after background subtraction is used in combination with the previous measurement on the ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ beam and the inverse muon decay measurement to reduce the uncertainty on the ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ flux in the ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$-enhanced beam from 7.6% to 3.3% and the ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ flux in the ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$-enhanced beam from 7.8% to 4.7%.