Measurement of inclusive charged-current νμ scattering on hydrocarbon at «eν »∼6 GeV with low three-momentum transfer

Abstract

The $\mathrm{MINER}\ensuremath{\nu}\mathrm{A}$ experiment reports double-differential cross-section measurements for ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$-carbon interactions with three-momentum transfer $|\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{q}|<1.2\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ obtained with medium energy exposures in the NuMI beam. These measurements are performed as a function of the three-momentum transfer and an energy transfer estimator called the available energy defined as the energy that would be visible in the detector. The double-differential cross sections are compared to the genie and nuwro predictions along with the modified version of genie which incorporates new models for better agreement with earlier measurements from $\mathrm{MINER}\ensuremath{\nu}\mathrm{A}$. In these measurements, the quasielastic, resonance, and multinucleon knockout processes appear at different kinematics in this two-dimensional space. The results can be used to improve models for neutrino interactions needed by neutrino oscillation experiments.