Measurement of the neutrino component of an antineutrino beam observed by a nonmagnetized detector

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Abstract

Two methods are employed to measure the neutrino flux of the antineutrino-mode beam observed by the MiniBooNE detector. The first method compares data to simulated event rates in a high-purity ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$-induced charged-current single ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+}$ ($\mathrm{CC}1{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+}$) sample while the second exploits the difference between the angular distributions of muons created in ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ and ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ charged-current quasielastic (CCQE) interactions. The results from both analyses indicate the prediction of the neutrino flux component of the predominately antineutrino beam is overestimated---the $\mathrm{CC}1{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+}$ analysis indicates the predicted ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ flux should be scaled by $0.76\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.11$, while the CCQE angular fit yields $0.65\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.23$. The energy spectrum of the flux prediction is checked by repeating the analyses in bins of reconstructed neutrino energy, and the results show that the spectral shape is well-modeled. These analyses are a demonstration of techniques for measuring the neutrino contamination of antineutrino beams observed by future nonmagnetized detectors.

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