Measurement of K+ production cross section by 8 GeV protons using high energy neutrino interactions in the SciBooNE detector

• Main Authors: The SciBooNE Collaboration, Cheng, G, Mariani, C, Alcaraz-Aunion, J. L, Brice, S. J, Bugel, L, Catala-Perez, J, Conrad, J. M, Djurcic, Z, Dore, U, Finley, D. A, Franke, A. J, Giganti, C, Gomez-Cadenas, a J. J, Guzowski, P, Hanson, A, Hayato, Y, Hiraide, K, Jover-Manas, G, Karagiorgi, G, Katori, T, Kobayashi, Y. K, Kobilarcik, T, Kubo, H, Kurimoto, Y, Louis, W. C, Loverre, P. F, Ludovici, L, Mahn, K. B. M, Masuike, S, Matsuoka, K, McGary, V. T, Metcalf, W, Mills, G. B, Mitsuka, G, Miyachi, Y, Mizugashira, S, Moore, C. D, Nakajima, Y, Nakaya, T, Napora, R, Nienaber, P, Orme, D, Otani, M, Russell, A. D, Sanchez, F, Shaevitz, M. H, Shibata, T. -A, Sorel, M, Stefanski, R. J, Takei, H, Tanaka, H. -K, Tanaka, M, Tayloe, R, Taylor, I. J, Tesarek, R. J, Uchida, Y, Van de Water, R, Walding, J. J, Wascko, M. O, White, H. B, Yokoyama, M, Zeller, G. P, Zimmerman, E. D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 29-07-2011
• Subjects: Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1105.2871

Phys.Rev.D84:012009,2011 The SciBooNE Collaboration reports K+ production cross section and rate
measurements using high energy daughter muon neutrino scattering data off the
SciBar polystyrene (C8H8) target in the SciBooNE detector. The K+ mesons are
produced by 8 GeV protons striking a beryllium target in Fermilab Booster
Neutrino Beam line (BNB). Using observed neutrino and antineutrino events in
SciBooNE, we measure d2{\sigma}/dpd{\Omega} = (5.34 \times 0.76) mb/(GeV/c
\times sr) for p + Be -> K+ + X at mean K+ energy of 3.9 GeV and angle (with
respect to the proton beam direction) of 3.7 degrees, corresponding to the
selected K+ sample. Compared to Monte Carlo predictions using previous higher
energy K+ production measurements, this measurement, which uses the NUANCE
neutrino interaction generator, is consistent with a normalization factor of
0.85\times0.12. This agreement is evidence that the extrapolation of the higher
energy K+ measurements to an 8 GeV beam energy using Feynman scaling is valid.
This measurement reduces the error on the K+ production cross section from 40%
to 14%.