First Measurement of Differential Charged Current Quasielastic–like νµ–Argon Scattering Cross Sections with the MicroBoone Detector

The extraction of neutrino mixing parameters from neutrino oscillation experiments relies on the reconstruction of the incident neutrino energy and knowledge of the neutrino-nuclei interaction cross-section. Charged Current Quasi Elastic (CCQE) scattering, in which the incoming neutrino knocks out a nucleon and leaves the rest of the nucleus intact, is the simplest inelastic interaction process. The incoming energy reconstruction for this type of process is also considered relatively simple. Thus it is chosen by many accelerator based neutrino experiments as their signal or a dominant portion of it. 

MicroBooNE is the first liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) commissioned at Fermilab. Its excellent particle reconstruction capabilities allow the detection of neutrino interactions using exclusive final states, which will play a crucial role in the success of future kiloton LArTPC detectors such as DUNE. This talk will present the recently published, first measurement of exclusive νµ CCQE-like flux integrated total and differential cross sections using single proton knock-out interactions recorded by the MicroBooNE LArTPC detector with 4pi acceptance and a 300 MeV/c proton threshold. The measurement is compared to several event generators and challenges their prediction in specific parts of the phase space