Measurement of ${\pi }^0$ Production in ${\bar{\nu }}_{\mu }$ Charged-Current Interactions in the NOvA Near Detector

Abstract

We present a high-statistics measurement of muon antineutrino-induced charged-current neutral pion production on a hydrocarbon target using the NOvA Near Detector. The differential cross sections as functions of the momenta and angles of the outgoing pion and muon, the squared four-momentum transfer, and the invariant mass of the hadronic system at an average neutrino energy of 2~GeV are measured and compared with predictions from various neutrino interaction models. The results agree with the GENIE prediction but suggest that other models underestimate the cross section in the $\Delta$(1232) resonance region. These results represent the most precise measurement of antineutrino-induced neutral pion production to date.

Full author list included in the PDF. Accepted for publication in Physical Review D