Resumo: Cross section measurements are essential for all neutrino oscillation experiments. In fact, uncertainties
associated to cross section model parameters constitute one of the dominant sources of
errors in current oscillation analyses. In particular, understanding neutrino-induced pion production
in the kinematic regime known as shallow inelastic scattering (SIS) is critical for improving
neutrino interaction modeling in event generators. In this study, 416,233 (237,468) muon neutrino
(antineutrino) interactions are measured in a SIS background region, predominantly made of
baryon resonances. The analyzed datasets were collected from 2013 to 2019, comprising neutrinos
generated by the Fermilab NuMI facility, with mean energy of 6 GeV, and the interactions occurred
on the MINERvA hydrocarbon target. The measurements are presented as double-differential cross
sections in terms of the outgoing muon longitudinal and transverse momentum components, as
well as the Bjorken x and y variables. Comparisons between the extracted data and predictions
from several generators reveal significant discrepancies across most kinematic bins. |