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Measurement of charged-current $ν_{μ}$ and ${\bar{ν}}_{μ}$ cross sections on hydrocarbon in a shallow inelastic scattering region

A. Lozano ^1,*, G. Silva¹, G. Caceres^1,†, S. Akhter², Z. Ahmad Dar^3,2, V. Ansari², M. V. Ascencio^4,‡, M. Sajjad Athar², J. L. Bonilla⁵ et al. (MINERvA Collaboration)

J. L. Bonilla⁵, A. Bravar⁶, G. A. Díaz^7,8, H. da Motta¹, J. Felix⁵, L. Fields⁹, R. Fine^8,§, A. M. Gago⁴, H. Gallagher¹⁰, P. K. Gaur², R. Gran¹¹, E. Granados⁵, D. A. Harris^12,7, J. Kleykamp^8,∥, A. Klustová¹³, M. Kordosky³, D. Last^8,14, X.-G. Lu^15,16, S. Manly⁸, W. A. Mann¹⁰, C. Mauger¹⁴, K. S. McFarland⁸, B. Messerly^17,¶, O. Moreno^3,5, J. G. Morfín⁷, J. K. Nelson³, C. Nguyen¹⁸, A. Olivier^9,8, V. Paolone¹⁷, G. N. Perdue^7,8, C. Pernas³, K.-J. Plows¹⁶, M. A. Ramírez^14,5, D. Ruterbories⁸, H. Schellman¹⁹, C. J. Solano Salinas²⁰, D. S. Correia¹, M. Sultana⁸, V. S. Syrotenko¹⁰, A. V. Waldron^21,13, and B. Yaeggy^22,** (MINERvA Collaboration)

¹Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Rua Drive Xavier Sigaud 150, Urca, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 22290-180, Brazil
²Department of Physics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh 202002, India
³Department of Physics, William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187, USA
⁴Sección Física, Departamento de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Apartado 1761, Lima, Perú
⁵Campus León y Campus Guanajuato, Universidad de Guanajuato, Lascurain de Retana No. 5, Colonia Centro, Guanajuato 36000, Guanajuato México
⁶University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
⁷Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA
⁸Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627 USA
⁹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA
¹⁰Physics Department, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA
¹¹Department of Physics, University of Minnesota—Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota 55812, USA
¹²York University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3 Canada
¹³The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW, United Kingdom
¹⁴Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
¹⁵Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
¹⁶Oxford University, Department of Physics, Oxford, OX1 3PJ United Kingdom
¹⁷Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
¹⁸University of Florida, Department of Physics, Gainesville, Florida 32611
¹⁹Department of Physics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA
²⁰Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, CP 15081, Lima, Perú
²¹G O Jones Building, Queen Mary University of London, 327 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom
²²Departamento de Física, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680 Casilla 110-V, Valparaíso, Chile

^*Present address: Department of Physics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
^†Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
^‡Present address: Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.
^§Present address: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
^∥Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi 38677, USA.
^¶Present address: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
^**Present address: Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 072001 – Published 5 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vq38-kmxq

Abstract

This MINERvA analysis is the first neutrino and antineutrino study of a shallow inelastic scattering region, which is the transition region between resonant production and deep inelastic scattering processes. This transition is explicitly included in this study by expanding the scope of shallow inelastic scattering to include not only the mainly lower- $Q^{2}$ nonresonant pion production but also the kinematic region where pion production off quarks within the nucleon become significant with $Q^{2}$ below the onset of the deep-inelastic scattering region defined in this analysis. To reduce the resonance background the kinematic region $1.5 < W < 2 GeV / c^{2}$ was chosen. In addition to the inclusive differential cross section measurements in this $W$ region, a sample with $Q^{2} \geq 1 GeV / c^{2}$ was also analyzed to emphasize shallow inelastic scattering interactions off quarks within the nucleon. The measurements of one-dimensional cross sections at $⟨ E_{ν} ⟩ \sim 6 GeV$ on hydrocarbon of $Q^{2}$ , Bjorken x, and muon momentum variables are compared with modified predictions from the genie 2 neutrino generator as well as predictions of other neutrino simulators gibuu, neut, nuwro and an alternative genie 3 version. Significant discrepancies both in shape and magnitude between measurements and neutrino simulator predictions of all variables have been observed.

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Neutrino interactions

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (61)

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 072001– Published 5 October, 2026

Vol. 114, Iss. 7 — 1 October 2026

Received 31 March 2025
Accepted 13 August 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vq38-kmxq

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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Measurement of charged-current $ν_{μ}$ and ${\bar{ν}}_{μ}$ cross sections on hydrocarbon in a shallow inelastic scattering region

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Measurement of charged-current νμ and ν¯μ cross sections on hydrocarbon in a shallow inelastic scattering region

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References (61)

Measurement of charged-current $ν_{μ}$ and ${\bar{ν}}_{μ}$ cross sections on hydrocarbon in a shallow inelastic scattering region