Open Access

First measurement of neutron capture multiplicity in neutrino-oxygen neutral-current quasielasticlike interactions using an accelerator neutrino beam

K. Abe⁶¹, S. Abe⁶¹, R. Akutsu¹⁶, H. Alarakia-Charles³⁴, Y. I. Alj Hakim⁵⁵, S. Alonso Monsalve⁹, L. Anthony²¹, S. Aoki³², K. A. Apte²¹ et al. (T2K Collaboration)

K. A. Apte²¹, T. Arai⁶⁰, T. Arihara⁶⁴, S. Arimoto³³, Y. Ashida⁷⁰, E. T. Atkin²¹, N. Babu³⁸, V. Baranov³⁹, G. J. Barker⁷¹, G. Barr⁴⁷, D. Barrow⁴⁷, P. Bates³⁷, L. Bathe-Peters⁴⁷, M. Batkiewicz-Kwasniak¹⁵, N. Baudis⁴⁷, V. Berardi²², L. Berns⁷⁰, S. Bhattacharjee³⁸, A. Blanchet¹¹, A. Blondel^58,12, P. M. M. Boistier⁵, S. Bolognesi⁵, S. Bordoni¹², S. B. Boyd⁷¹, C. Bronner⁷³, A. Bubak⁵⁶, M. Buizza Avanzini³⁶, J. A. Caballero⁵⁴, F. Cadoux¹², N. F. Calabria²², S. Cao²⁰, S. Cap¹², D. Carabadjac^36,*, S. L. Cartwright⁵⁵, M. P. Casado^18,†, M. G. Catanesi²², J. Chakrani³⁵, A. Chalumeau⁵⁸, D. Cherdack¹⁷, A. Chvirova²⁶, J. Coleman³⁷, G. Collazuol²⁴, F. Cormier⁶⁶, A. A. L. Craplet²¹, A. Cudd⁶, D. D’ago²⁴, C. Dalmazzone⁵⁸, T. Daret⁵, P. Dasgupta⁸, C. Davis⁴⁸, Yu. I. Davydov³⁹, P. de Perio²⁹, G. De Rosa²³, T. Dealtry³⁴, C. Densham⁴⁴, A. Dergacheva²⁶, R. Dharmapal Banerjee⁷², F. Di Lodovico³¹, G. Diaz Lopez⁵⁸, S. Dolan¹¹, D. Douqa¹², T. A. Doyle⁴³, O. Drapier³⁶, K. E. Duffy⁴⁷, J. Dumarchez⁵⁸, P. Dunne²¹, K. Dygnarowicz⁶⁹, A. Eguchi⁶⁰, J. Elias⁵⁰, S. Emery-Schrenk⁵, G. Erofeev²⁶, A. Ershova³⁶, G. Eurin⁵, D. Fedorova²⁶, S. Fedotov²⁶, M. Feltre²⁴, L. Feng³³, D. Ferlewicz⁶⁰, A. J. Finch³⁴, M. D. Fitton⁴⁴, C. Forza²⁴, M. Friend^16,‡, Y. Fujii^16,‡, Y. Fukuda⁴¹, Y. Furui⁶⁴, J. García-Marcos¹⁴, A. C. Germer⁴⁸, L. Giannessi¹², C. Giganti⁵⁸, M. Girgus⁶⁸, V. Glagolev³⁹, M. Gonin²⁸, R. González Jiménez⁵⁴, J. González Rosa⁵⁴, E. A. G. Goodman¹³, K. Gorshanov²⁶, P. Govindaraj⁶⁸, M. Grassi²⁴, M. Guigue⁵⁸, F. Y. Guo⁴³, D. R. Hadley⁷¹, S. Han^33,62, D. A. Harris⁷⁴, R. J. Harris^34,44, T. Hasegawa^16,‡, C. M. Hasnip¹¹, S. Hassani⁵, N. C. Hastings¹⁶, Y. Hayato^61,29, I. Heitkamp⁷⁰, D. Henaff⁵, Y. Hino¹⁶, J. Holeczek⁵⁶, A. Holin⁴⁴, T. Holvey⁴⁷, N. T. Hong Van²⁷, T. Honjo⁴⁶, M. C. F. Hooft¹⁴, K. Hosokawa⁶¹, J. Hu³³, A. K. Ichikawa⁷⁰, K. Ieki⁶¹, M. Ikeda⁶¹, T. Ishida^16,‡, M. Ishitsuka⁶⁵, H. Ito³², S. Ito⁷³, A. Izmaylov²⁶, N. Jachowicz¹⁴, S. J. Jenkins³⁷, C. Jesús-Valls¹¹, M. Jia⁴³, J. J. Jiang⁴³, J. Y. Ji⁴³, T. P. Jones³⁴, P. Jonsson²¹, S. Joshi⁵, M. Kabirnezhad²¹, A. C. Kaboth⁵¹, H. Kakuno⁶⁴, J. Kameda⁶¹, S. Karpova¹², V. S. Kasturi¹², Y. Kataoka⁶¹, T. Katori³¹, A. Kawabata³⁰, Y. Kawamura⁴⁶, M. Kawaue³³, E. Kearns^2,§, M. Khabibullin²⁶, A. Khotjantsev²⁶, T. Kikawa³³, S. King³¹, V. Kiseeva³⁹, J. Kisiel⁵⁶, A. Klustová²¹, L. Kneale⁵⁵, H. Kobayashi⁶⁰, L. Koch¹⁹, S. Kodama⁶⁰, M. Kolupanova²⁶, A. Konaka⁶⁶, L. L. Kormos³⁴, Y. Koshio^45,§, K. Kowalik⁴², Y. Kudenko^26,∥, Y. Kudo⁷³, A. Kumar Jha¹⁴, R. Kurjata⁶⁹, V. Kurochka²⁶, T. Kutter³⁸, L. Labarga¹, M. Lachat⁵⁰, K. Lachner⁹, J. Lagoda⁴², S. M. Lakshmi⁵⁶, M. Lamers James⁷¹, A. Langella²³, D. H. Langridge⁵¹, J.-F. Laporte⁵, D. Last⁵⁰, N. Latham³¹, M. Laveder²⁴, L. Lavitola²³, M. Lawe³⁴, D. Leon Silverio⁵⁹, S. Levorato²⁴, S. V. Lewis³¹, B. Li⁹, C. Lin²¹, R. P. Litchfield¹³, S. L. Liu⁴³, W. Li⁴⁷, A. Longhin²⁴, A. Lopez Moreno³¹, L. Ludovici²⁵, X. Lu⁷¹, T. Lux¹⁸, L. N. Machado¹³, L. Magaletti²², K. Mahn⁴⁰, K. K. Mahtani⁴³, S. Manly⁵⁰, A. D. Marino⁶, D. G. R. Martin²¹, D. A. Martinez Caicedo⁵⁹, L. Martinez¹⁸, M. Martini^58,¶, T. Matsubara¹⁶, R. Matsumoto⁶³, V. Matveev²⁶, C. Mauger⁴⁸, K. Mavrokoridis³⁷, N. McCauley³⁷, K. S. McFarland⁵⁰, C. McGrew⁴³, J. McKean²¹, A. Mefodiev²⁶, G. D. Megias⁵⁴, L. Mellet⁴⁰, C. Metelko³⁷, M. Mezzetto²⁴, S. Miki⁶¹, V. Mikola¹³, E. W. Miller¹⁸, A. Minamino⁷³, O. Mineev²⁶, S. Mine^61,4, J. Mirabito², M. Miura^61,§, S. Moriyama^61,§, S. Moriyama⁷³, P. Morrison¹³, Th. A. Mueller³⁶, D. Munford¹⁷, A. Muñoz^36,28, L. Munteanu¹¹, Y. Nagai⁸, T. Nakadaira^16,‡, K. Nakagiri⁶⁰, M. Nakahata^61,29, Y. Nakajima⁶⁰, K. D. Nakamura⁷⁰, A. Nakano⁷⁰, Y. Nakano⁶⁷, S. Nakayama^61,29, T. Nakaya^33,29, K. Nakayoshi^16,‡, C. E. R. Naseby²¹, D. T. Nguyen¹⁰, V. Q. Nguyen³⁶, K. Niewczas¹⁴, S. Nishimori¹⁶, Y. Nishimura³⁰, Y. Noguchi⁶¹, T. Nosek⁴², F. Nova⁴⁴, J. C. Nugent²¹, H. M. O’Keeffe³⁴, L. O’Sullivan¹⁹, R. Okazaki³⁰, W. Okinaga⁶⁰, K. Okumura^62,29, T. Okusawa⁴⁶, N. Onda³³, N. Ospina²², L. Osu³⁶, N. Otani³³, Y. Oyama^16,‡, V. Paolone⁴⁹, J. Pasternak²¹, D. Payne³⁷, M. Pfaff²¹, L. Pickering⁴⁴, B. Popov^58,**, A. J. Portocarrero Yrey¹⁶, M. Posiadala-Zezula⁶⁸, Y. S. Prabhu⁶⁸, H. Prasad⁷², F. Pupilli²⁴, B. Quilain^28,36, P. T. Quyen^20,††, E. Radicioni²², B. Radics⁷⁴, M. A. Ramirez⁴⁸, R. Ramsden³¹, P. N. Ratoff³⁴, M. Reh⁶, G. Reina¹⁹, C. Riccio⁴³, D. W. Riley¹³, E. Rondio⁴², S. Roth⁵², N. Roy⁷⁴, A. Rubbia⁹, L. Russo⁵⁸, A. Rychter⁶⁹, W. Saenz⁵⁸, K. Sakashita^16,‡, S. Samani¹², F. Sánchez¹², E. M. Sandford³⁷, Y. Sato⁶⁵, T. Schefke³⁸, K. Scholberg^7,§, M. Scott²¹, Y. Seiya^46,‡‡, T. Sekiguchi^16,‡, H. Sekiya^61,29,§, T. Sekiya⁶⁴, D. Seppala⁴⁰, D. Sgalaberna⁹, A. Shaikhiev²⁶, M. Shiozawa^61,29, Y. Shiraishi⁴⁵, A. Shvartsman²⁶, N. Skrobova²⁶, K. Skwarczynski⁵¹, D. Smyczek⁵², M. Smy⁴, J. T. Sobczyk⁷², H. Sobel^4,29, F. J. P. Soler¹³, A. J. Speers³⁴, R. Spina²², A. Srivastava¹⁹, P. Stowell⁵⁵, Y. Stroke²⁶, I. A. Suslov³⁹, A. Suzuki³², S. Y. Suzuki^16,‡, M. Tada^16,‡, S. Tairafune⁷⁰, A. Takeda⁶¹, Y. Takeuchi^32,29, K. Takeya⁴⁵, H. K. Tanaka^61,§, H. Tanigawa¹⁶, V. V. Tereshchenko³⁹, N. Thamm⁵², C. Touramanis³⁷, N. Tran³³, T. Tsukamoto^16,‡, M. Tzanov³⁸, Y. Uchida²¹, M. Vagins^29,4, M. Varghese¹⁸, I. Vasilyev³⁹, G. Vasseur⁵, E. Villa^11,12, U. Virginet⁵⁸, T. Vladisavljevic⁴⁴, T. Wachala¹⁵, S.-i. Wada³², D. Wakabayashi⁷⁰, H. T. Wallace⁵⁵, J. G. Walsh⁴⁰, D. Wark^44,47, M. O. Wascko^47,44, A. Weber¹⁹, R. Wendell³³, M. J. Wilking⁵³, C. Wilkinson³⁵, J. R. Wilson³¹, K. Wood³⁵, C. Wret²¹, J. Xia⁵⁷, K. Yamamoto^46,‡‡, T. Yamamoto⁴⁶, C. Yanagisawa^43,§§, Y. Yang⁴⁷, T. Yano⁶¹, N. Yershov²⁶, U. Yevarouskaya⁴³, M. Yokoyama^60,§, Y. Yoshimoto⁶⁰, N. Yoshimura³³, R. Zaki⁷⁴, A. Zalewska¹⁵, J. Zalipska⁴², G. Zarnecki¹⁵, J. Zhang^66,3, X. Y. Zhao⁹, H. Zheng⁴³, H. Zhong³², T. Zhu²¹, M. Ziembicki⁶⁹, E. D. Zimmerman⁶, M. Zito⁵⁸, and S. Zsoldos³¹ (T2K Collaboration)

¹University Autonoma Madrid, Department of Theoretical Physics, 28049 Madrid, Spain
²Boston University, Department of Physics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
³University of British Columbia, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
⁴University of California, Irvine, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Irvine, California, USA
⁵IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁶University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Physics, Boulder, Colorado, USA
⁷Duke University, Department of Physics, Durham, North Carolina, USA
⁸Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Atomic Physics, Budapest, Hungary
⁹ETH Zurich, Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Zurich, Switzerland
¹⁰VNU University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam
¹¹CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research, CH-1211 Genéve 23, Switzerland
¹²University of Geneva, Section de Physique, DPNC, Geneva, Switzerland
¹³University of Glasgow, School of Physics and Astronomy, Glasgow, United Kingdom
¹⁴Ghent University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Proeftuinstraat 86, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
¹⁵H. Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN, Cracow, Poland
¹⁶High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
¹⁷University of Houston, Department of Physics, Houston, Texas, USA
¹⁸Institut de Fisica d’Altes Energies (IFAE)—The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, Bellaterra (Barcelona) Spain
¹⁹Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Staudingerweg 7, 55128 Mainz, Germany
²⁰Institute For Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Education (IFIRSE), ICISE, Quy Nhon, Vietnam
²¹Imperial College London, Department of Physics, London, United Kingdom
²²INFN Sezione di Bari and Università e Politecnico di Bari, Dipartimento Interuniversitario di Fisica, Bari, Italy
²³INFN Sezione di Napoli and Università di Napoli, Dipartimento di Fisica, Napoli, Italy
²⁴INFN Sezione di Padova and Università di Padova, Dipartimento di Fisica, Padova, Italy
²⁵INFN Sezione di Roma and Università di Roma “La Sapienza,” Roma, Italy
²⁶Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
²⁷International Centre of Physics, Institute of Physics (IOP), Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), 10 Dao Tan, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam
²⁸ILANCE, CNRS—University of Tokyo International Research Laboratory, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582, Japan
²⁹Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
³⁰Keio University, Department of Physics, Kanagawa, Japan
³¹King’s College London, Department of Physics, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
³²Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
³³Kyoto University, Department of Physics, Kyoto, Japan
³⁴Lancaster University, Physics Department, Lancaster, United Kingdom
³⁵Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
³⁶Ecole Polytechnique, IN2P3-CNRS, Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, Palaiseau, France
³⁷University of Liverpool, Department of Physics, Liverpool, United Kingdom
³⁸Louisiana State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
³⁹Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia
⁴⁰Michigan State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
⁴¹Miyagi University of Education, Department of Physics, Sendai, Japan
⁴²National Centre for Nuclear Research, Warsaw, Poland
⁴³State University of New York at Stony Brook, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook, New York, USA
⁴⁴STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Oxford, and Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, United Kingdom
⁴⁵Okayama University, Department of Physics, Okayama, Japan
⁴⁶Osaka Metropolitan University, Department of Physics, Osaka, Japan
⁴⁷Oxford University, Department of Physics, Oxford, United Kingdom
⁴⁸University of Pennsylvania, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
⁴⁹University of Pittsburgh, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
⁵⁰University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester, New York, USA
⁵¹Royal Holloway University of London, Department of Physics, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom
⁵²RWTH Aachen University, III. Physikalisches Institut, Aachen, Germany
⁵³School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
⁵⁴Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Universidad de Sevilla, 41080 Sevilla, Spain
⁵⁵University of Sheffield, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Sheffield, United Kingdom
⁵⁶University of Silesia, Institute of Physics, Katowice, Poland
⁵⁷SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Menlo Park, California, USA
⁵⁸Sorbonne Université, CNRS/IN2P3, Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE), Paris, France
⁵⁹South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 501 East Saint Joseph Street, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA
⁶⁰University of Tokyo, Department of Physics, Tokyo, Japan
⁶¹University of Tokyo, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, Kamioka Observatory, Kamioka, Japan
⁶²University of Tokyo, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, Research Center for Cosmic Neutrinos, Kashiwa, Japan
⁶³Institute of Science Tokyo, Department of Physics, Tokyo
⁶⁴Tokyo Metropolitan University, Department of Physics, Tokyo, Japan
⁶⁵Tokyo University of Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Physics, Noda, Chiba, Japan
⁶⁶TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
⁶⁷University of Toyama, Department of Physics, Toyama, Japan
⁶⁸University of Warsaw, Faculty of Physics, Warsaw, Poland
⁶⁹Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Radioelectronics and Multimedia Technology, Warsaw, Poland
⁷⁰Tohoku University, Faculty of Science, Department of Physics, Miyagi, Japan
⁷¹University of Warwick, Department of Physics, Coventry, United Kingdom
⁷²Wroclaw University, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Wroclaw, Poland
⁷³Yokohama National University, Department of Physics, Yokohama, Japan
⁷⁴York University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

^*Also at Université Paris-Saclay.
^†Also at Departament de Fisica de la Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
^‡Also at J-PARC, Tokai, Japan.
^§Affiliated member at Kavli IPMU (WPI), the University of Tokyo, Japan.
^∥Also at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Moscow region, Russia and National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI,” Moscow, Russia.
^¶Also at IPSA-DRII, France.
^**Also at JINR, Dubna, Russia.
^††Also at the Graduate University of Science and Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.
^‡‡Also at Nambu Yoichiro Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (NITEP).
^§§Also at BMCC/CUNY, Science Department, New York, New York, USA.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 032003 – Published 6 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qh28-4znk

Abstract

We report the first measurement of neutron capture multiplicity in neutrino-oxygen neutral-current quasielasticlike interactions at the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande detector using the T2K neutrino beam, which has a peak energy of about 0.6 GeV. A total of 30 neutral-current quasielasticlike event candidates were selected from T2K data corresponding to an exposure of $1.76 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target. The $γ$ ray signals resulting from neutron captures were identified using a neural network. The flux-averaged mean neutron capture multiplicity was measured to be ${1.37 \pm 0.33 (stat .)}_{- 0.27}^{+ 0.17} (syst .)$ , which is compatible within 2.3 sigma than predictions obtained using our nominal simulation. We discuss potential sources of systematic uncertainty in the prediction and demonstrate that a significant portion of this discrepancy arises from the modeling of hadron-nucleus interactions in the detector medium.

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Particle interactions

Article Text

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 032003– Published 6 August, 2025

Vol. 112, Iss. 3 — 1 August 2025

Received 3 June 2025
Accepted 18 July 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qh28-4znk

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

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First measurement of neutron capture multiplicity in neutrino-oxygen neutral-current quasielasticlike interactions using an accelerator neutrino beam

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