MEASURING CLAS12 D(E, E′Π±) CROSS SECTIONS FOR E4NU

Abstract

Neutrino experiments need neutrino event generators such as GENIE to simulate neutrinonucleus (¿A) interactions in order to measure neutrino oscillations. We need eA data to validate GENIE. GENIE d(e, e') cross sections do not match data in the pion production region. Further analysis of this region can help constrain GENIE models. The goal of this project was to compare 4.244 GeV CLAS12 d(e, e'p±) cross sections to GENIE predictions. We analyzed data from the Fall 2019 run period of Run Group B (RG-B). We applied particle identification, fiducial, and vertex cuts on electron and charged pion candidates. We compared the measured data with events generated with GENIE and another generator called onepigen. We used onepigen to simulate single charged pion production and to calculate radiative corrections for the data. We submitted GENIE and onepigen events to the GEant4 Monte-Carlo (GEMC) simulation of CLAS12 and applied the same cuts we used on the data. We plotted cross sections as functions of W and binned the events in Q2, ¿pq, and Pp. We used 2D (Q2), 3D (Q2 with ¿pq or Pp), and 4D (Q2, ¿pq, and Pp) binning schemes. We found GENIE describes d(e, e'p±) cross sections better than expected. GENIE describes the data remarkably well in the 2D bins and some 3D and 4D bins. There are many discrepancies between GENIE and data in the other 3D and 4D bins. The results show that, relative to data, GENIE cross sections increase as Q2 increases, decrease as Pp increases, and fit best at low ¿pq. These results will help guide improvements to GENIE in order to reduce the systematic uncertainties in neutrino-oscillation experiments.