Measurement of the Pion Absorption Cross-Section with the ProtoDUNE Experiment - PhDData

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Measurement of the Pion Absorption Cross-Section with the ProtoDUNE Experiment

The thesis was published by Stocker, Francesca, in September 2022, University of Bern.

Abstract:

Understanding the nature and origin of matter in the universe is one of the fundamental questions in modern particle physics. In consequence, the particle physics community strives to reveal why matter actually dominates anti-matter. The Sakharov conditions state the necessity of violation of the charge parity symmetry (CP-violation) to explain the matter-dominated universe. The phenomenon of neutrino oscillations holds the key to reveal CP-violation in the leptonic sector. A concerted international effort is therefore underway to construct next-generation neutrino oscillation experiments able to address this complex issue and eventually measure CP-violation. To reach the necessary sensitivity and revealing CP-violating physics, systematic uncertainties need to be controlled at the percent level. Neutrino experiments rely on interactions of neutrinos with bound nucleons inside the detector medium nuclei. Current interaction models used to simulate neutrino interactions with event generators, lack understanding and precise modeling of the hadronic and nuclear physics involved in the processes. Specific measurements of hadron-nucleus interactions can help constrain and improve the models resulting in reduced systematic uncertainties for CP-violation searches. This thesis presents a first preliminary measurement of the pion absorption cross-section in the relevant pion kinetic energy range of 450 to 950 MeV with the ProtoDUNE-SP detector. The results of this thesis indicate that the measurements agree within their systematic uncertainties with model predictions. However, they suggest a systematically lower cross-section which could open the way to interesting future developments.

The full thesis can be downloaded at :
http://boristheses.unibe.ch/3278/1/21stocker_f.pdf


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