Measurement of Electron-Neutrino Charged-Current Cross Sections on <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">I</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mrow><mml:mn>127</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:mrow></mml:math> with the COHERENT <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>NaI</mml:mi><mml:mi>ν</mml:mi><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">E</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math> Detector
P. An, C. Awe, P. S. Barbeau, B. Becker, V. Belov, I. Bernardi, C. Bock, A. Bolozdynya, R. Bouabid, A. Brown, J. Browning, B. Cabrera-Palmer, M. Cervantes, E. Conley, J. Daughhetee, J. Detwiler, K. Ding, M. Durand, Y. Efremenko, S. R. Elliott, L. Fabris, M. Febbraro, A. Gallo Rosso, A. Galindo-Uribarri, A. C. Germer, M. P. Green, J. Hakenmüller, M. R. Heath, S. Hedges, M. Hughes, Bankole A. Johnson, T. Johnson, A. Khromov, A. M. Konovalov, E. Kozlova, A. Kumpan, O. Kyzylova, L. Li, J. M. Link, J. Liu, M. Mahoney, A. Major, Kulwinder Singh Mann, D. M. Markoff, J. Mastroberti, J. Mattingly, P. E. Mueller, J. Newby, D. S. Parno, S. Penttilä, D. Pershey, C. G. Prior, R. Rapp, H. Ray, J. Raybern, O. Razuvaeva, D. Reyna, G. C. Rich, J. Ross, D. Rudik, J. Runge, D. J. Salvat, J. Sander, K. Scholberg, A. Shakirov, G. Simakov, G. Sinev, C. Skuse, W. M. Snow, V. Sosnovtsev, T. Subedi, B. Suh, R. Tayloe, K. Tellez-Giron-Flores, Y.-T. Tsai, E. Ujah, J. Vanderwerp, E. E. van Nieuwenhuizen, R. L. Varner, C.J. Virtue, G. Visser, K. Walkup, Elizabeth Ward, T. Wongjirad, J. Yoo, C.-H. Yu, A. Zawada, J. Zettlemoyer, A. Zderic
Abstract
Using an 185-kg NaI[Tl] array, COHERENT has measured the inclusive electron-neutrino charged-current cross section on $^{127}\mathrm{I}$ with pion decay-at-rest neutrinos produced by the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Iodine is one the heaviest targets for which low-energy ($\ensuremath{\le}50\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$) inelastic neutrino-nucleus processes have been measured, and this is the first measurement of its inclusive cross section. After a five-year detector exposure, COHERENT reports a flux-averaged cross section for electron neutrinos of ${9.2}_{\ensuremath{-}1.8}^{+2.1}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}40}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. This corresponds to a value that is $\ensuremath{\sim}41%$ lower than predicted using the MARLEY event generator with a measured Gamow-Teller strength distribution. In addition, the observed visible spectrum from charged-current scattering on $^{127}\mathrm{I}$ has been measured between 10 and 55 MeV, and the exclusive zero-neutron and one-or-more-neutron emission cross sections are measured to be ${5.2}_{\ensuremath{-}3.1}^{+3.4}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}40}$ and ${2.2}_{\ensuremath{-}2.2}^{+3.5}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}40}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$, respectively.