First Observation of Coherent π⁰ Production in Neutrino Nucleus Interactions with E_{ν}< 2 GeV

The MiniBooNE Collaboration: A. A. Aguilar-Arevalo , C. E. Anderson , A. O. Bazarko , S. J. Brice , B. C. Brown , L. Bugel , J. Cao , L. Coney

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J. M. Conrad D. C. Cox A. Curioni Z. Djurcic D. A. Finley B. T. Fleming R. Ford F. G. Garcia G. T. Garvey C. Green J. A. Green T. L. Hart E. Hawker R. Imlay R. A. Johnson G. Karagiori P. Kasper T. Katori T. Kobilarcik I. Kourbanis S. Koutsoliotas E. M. Laird S. K. Linden J. M. Link Y. Liu W. C. Louis K. B. M. Mahn W. Marsh P. S. Martin G. McGregor W. Metcalf P. D. Meyers F. Mills G. B. Mills J. Monroe C. D. Moore R. H. Nelson V. T. Nguyen P. Nienaber J. A. Nowak S. Ouedraogo R. B. Patterson D. Perevalov C. C. Polly E. Prebys J. L. Raaf H. Ray B. P. Roe A. D. Russell V. Sandberg R. Schirato D. Schmitz M. H. Shaevitz F. C. Shoemaker D. Smith M. Soderberg M. Sorel P. Spentzouris I. Stancu R. J. Stefanski M. Sung H. A. Tanaka R. Tayloe M. Tzanov R. Van de Water M. O. Wascko D. H. White M. J. Wilking H. J. Yang G. P. Zeller E. D. Zimmerman

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classification ✦ hep-ex

keywords productioncoherentminiboonediffractivefirstinteractionsneutrinoobservation

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The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab has amassed the largest sample to date of $\pi^0$s produced in neutral current (NC) neutrino-nucleus interactions at low energy. This paper reports a measurement of the momentum distribution of $\pi^0$s produced in mineral oil (CH$_2$) and the first observation of coherent $\pi^0$ production below 2 GeV. In the forward direction, the yield of events observed above the expectation for resonant production is attributed primarily to coherent production off carbon, but may also include a small contribution from diffractive production on hydrogen. Integrated over the MiniBooNE neutrino flux, the sum of the NC coherent and diffractive modes is found to be (19.5 $\pm$1.1 (stat) $\pm$2.5 (sys))% of all exclusive NC $\pi^0$ production at MiniBooNE. These measurements are of immediate utility because they quantify an important background to MiniBooNE's search for $\nu_{\mu} \to \nu_e$ oscillations.

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First Observation of Coherent π⁰ Production in Neutrino Nucleus Interactions with E_{ν}< 2 GeV

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