Measurement of neutron production in atmospheric neutrino interactions at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

B. Aharmim, S. N. Ahmed, A. E. Anthony, N. Barros, E. W. Beier, A. Bellerive, B. Beltran, M. Bergevin, S. D. Biller, R. Bonventre, K. Boudjemline, M. G. Boulay, B. Cai, E. J. Callaghan, J. Caravaca, Y. D. Chan, D. Chauhan, M. Chen, B. T. Cleveland, G. A. CoxX. Dai, H. Deng, F. B. Descamps, J. A. Detwiler, P. J. Doe, G. Doucas, P. L. Drouin, M. Dunford, S. R. Elliott, H. C. Evans, G. T. Ewan, J. Farine, H. Fergani, F. Fleurot, R. J. Ford, J. A. Formaggio, N. Gagnon, K. Gilje, J. T.M. Goon, K. Graham, E. Guillian, S. Habib, R. L. Hahn, A. L. Hallin, E. D. Hallman, P. J. Harvey, R. Hazama, W. J. Heintzelman, J. Heise, J. A. Secrest

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Abstract

Neutron production in giga electron volt-scale neutrino interactions is a poorly studied process. We have measured the neutron multiplicities in atmospheric neutrino interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory experiment and compared them to the prediction of a Monte Carlo simulation using genie and a minimally modified version of geant4. We analyzed 837 days of exposure corresponding to Phase I, using pure heavy water, and Phase II, using a mixture of Cl in heavy water. Neutrons produced in atmospheric neutrino interactions were identified with an efficiency of 15.3% and 44.3%, for Phases I and II respectively. The neutron production is measured as a function of the visible energy of the neutrino interaction and, for charged current quasielastic interaction candidates, also as a function of the neutrino energy. This study is also performed by classifying the complete sample into two pairs of event categories: charged current quasielastic and non charged current quasielastic, and νμ and νe. Results show good overall agreement between data and Monte Carlo for both phases, with some small tension with a statistical significance below 2σ for some intermediate energies.

Original languageEnglish
Article number112007
JournalPhysical Review D
Volume99
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 18 2019

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