Scientific article
English

First Measurement of 𝜈𝑒 and 𝜈𝜇 Interaction Cross Sections at the LHC with FASER’s Emulsion Detector

ContributorsFASER Collaboration
Published inPhysical review letters, vol. 133, no. 2, 021802
Publication date2024
First online date2024-07-11
Abstract

The first results of the study of high-energy electron neutrino (νe) and muon neutrino (νμ) charged-current interactions in the FASERν emulsion-tungsten detector of the FASER experiment at the LHC are presented. A 128.8 kg subset of the FASERν volume was analyzed after exposure to 9.5  fb-1 of s=13.6  TeV pp data. Four (eight) νe (νμ) interaction candidate events are observed with a statistical significance of 5.2σ (5.7σ). This is the first direct observation of νe interactions at a particle collider and includes the highest-energy νe and νμ ever detected from an artificial source. The interaction cross section per nucleon σ/Eν is measured over an energy range of 560–1740 GeV (520–1760 GeV) for νe (νμ) to be (1.2-0.7+0.8)×10-38  cm2 GeV-1 [(0.5±0.2)×10-38  cm2 GeV-1], consistent with standard model predictions. These are the first measurements of neutrino interaction cross sections in those energy ranges.

Keywords
  • P p: colliding beams
  • Neutrino: interaction
  • P p: scattering
  • Target: mass
  • Neutrino/e: particle identification
  • Neutrino/mu: particle identification
  • CERN LHC Coll
  • Statistical analysis
  • Background
  • Nucleon
  • Charged current
  • Tungsten: target
  • Neutrino: detector
  • Channel cross section: measured
  • Experimental results
  • 13600 GeV-cms
Funding
  • Heising-Simons Foundation [2018-1135]
  • Simons Foundation [623683]
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [19H01909]
  • Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung [05H20PDRC1]
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [DFG EXC 2121]
  • Royal Society [URF\R1\201519]
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China
  • UK Science and Technology Funding Councils [ST/T505870/1]
  • National Science Foundation - Collaborative Research: FASER and FASERnu at the Large Hadron Collider [2111427]
  • European Commission - Studying Neutrinos at the High Energy Frontier [101002690]
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - Quantum Universe [390833306]
Citation (ISO format)
FASER Collaboration. First Measurement of 𝜈𝑒 and 𝜈𝜇 Interaction Cross Sections at the LHC with FASER’s Emulsion Detector. In: Physical review letters, 2024, vol. 133, n° 2, p. 021802. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.133.021802
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Article (Published version)
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
Journal ISSN0031-9007
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