TY - JOUR

T1 - Measurement of neutron production in atmospheric neutrino interactions at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

AU - SNO Collaboration

AU - Aharmim, B.

AU - Ahmed, S. N.

AU - Anthony, A. E.

AU - Barros, N.

AU - Beier, E. W.

AU - Bellerive, A.

AU - Beltran, B.

AU - Bergevin, M.

AU - Biller, S. D.

AU - Bonventre, R.

AU - Boudjemline, K.

AU - Boulay, M. G.

AU - Cai, B.

AU - Callaghan, E. J.

AU - Caravaca, J.

AU - Chan, Y. D.

AU - Chauhan, D.

AU - Chen, M.

AU - Cleveland, B. T.

AU - Cox, G. A.

AU - Dai, X.

AU - Deng, H.

AU - Descamps, F. B.

AU - Detwiler, J. A.

AU - Doe, P. J.

AU - Doucas, G.

AU - Drouin, P. -L.

AU - Dunford, M.

AU - Elliott, S. R.

AU - Evans, H. C.

AU - Ewan, G. T.

AU - Farine, J.

AU - Fergani, H.

AU - Fleurot, F.

AU - Ford, R. J.

AU - Formaggio, J. A.

AU - Gagnon, N.

AU - Gilje, K.

AU - Goon, J. TM.

AU - Graham, K.

AU - Guillian, E.

AU - Habib, S.

AU - Hahn, R. L.

AU - Hallin, A. L.

AU - Hallman, E. D.

AU - Howard, C.

AU - Huang, M.

AU - Law, J.

AU - Monroe, J.

PY - 2019/6/18

Y1 - 2019/6/18

N2 - Neutron production in GeV-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 Phase I and II respectively. The neutron production is measured as a function of the visible energy of the neutrino interaction and, for charged current quasi-elastic interaction candidates, also as a function of the neutrino energy. This study is also performed classifying the complete sample into two pairs of event categories: charged current quasi-elastic and non charged current quasi-elastic, and $\nu_{\mu}$ and $\nu_e$. Results show good overall agreement between data and Monte Carlo for both phases, with some small tension with a statistical significance below $2\sigma$ for some intermediate energies.

AB - Neutron production in GeV-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 Phase I and II respectively. The neutron production is measured as a function of the visible energy of the neutrino interaction and, for charged current quasi-elastic interaction candidates, also as a function of the neutrino energy. This study is also performed classifying the complete sample into two pairs of event categories: charged current quasi-elastic and non charged current quasi-elastic, and $\nu_{\mu}$ and $\nu_e$. Results show good overall agreement between data and Monte Carlo for both phases, with some small tension with a statistical significance below $2\sigma$ for some intermediate energies.

KW - hep-ex

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.99.112007

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.99.112007

M3 - Article

VL - 99

SP - 1

EP - 19

JO - Physical Review D

JF - Physical Review D

SN - 1550-7998

IS - 11

M1 - 112007

ER -