Measurement of the Inclusive Electron Neutrino Charged Current Cross Section on Carbon with the T2K Near Detector

The T2K off-axis near detector, ND280, is used to make the first differential cross-section measurements of electron neutrino charged current interactions at energies ∼1 GeV as a function of electron momentum, electron scattering angle and four-momentum transfer of the interaction. The total flux-averaged ν_e charged current cross-section on carbon is measured to be <σ>_ϕ = 1.11±0.09(stat) ±0.18(syst)×10^-38 cm²/nucleon.
The differential and total cross-section measurements agree with the predictions of two leading neutrino interaction generators, NEUT and GENIE. The NEUT prediction is 1.23×10^-38 cm²/nucleon and the GENIE prediction is 1.08×10^-38 cm²/nucleon. The total ν_e charged current cross-section result is also in agreement with data from the Gargamelle experiment.

Data release

• arXiv preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.7389
• Reference: Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 241803 (2014)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.241803