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Muon-neutrino elastic scattering on electrons is an observable neutrino process whose cross section is precisely known. Consequently a measurement of this process in an accelerator-based νμ beam can improve the knowledge of the absolute neutrino flux impinging upon the detector; typically this knowledge is limited to ∼10% due to uncertainties in hadron production and focusing. We have isolated a sample of 135±17 neutrino-electron elastic scattering candidates in the segmented scintillator detector of MINERvA, after subtracting backgrounds and correcting for efficiency. We show how this sample can be used to reduce the total uncertainty on the NuMI νμ flux from 9% to 6%. Our measurement provides a flux constraint that is useful to other experiments using the NuMI beam, and this technique is applicable to future neutrino beams operating at multi-GeV energies. © 2016 American Physic...
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Publicado 2015
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Single neutral pion production via muon antineutrino charged-current interactions in plastic scintillator (CH) is studied using the MINERvA detector exposed to the NuMI low-energy, wideband antineutrino beam at Fermilab. Measurement of this process constrains models of neutral pion production in nuclei, which is important because the neutral-current analog is a background for appearance oscillation experiments. The differential cross sections for momentum and production angle, for events with a single observed and no charged pions, are presented and compared to model predictions. These results comprise the first measurement of the kinematics for this process.
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The MINERvA collaboration operated a scaled-down replica of thesolid scintillator tracking and sampling calorimeter regions of the MINERvA detector in a hadron test beam at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. This paper reports measurements with samples of protons, pions, and electrons from 0.35 to 2.0 GeV/c momentum. The calorimetric response to protons, pions, and electrons is obtained from these data. A measurement of the parameter in Birks' law and an estimate of the tracking efficiency are extracted from the proton sample. Overall the data are well described by a Geant4-based Monte Carlo simulation of the detector and particle interactions with agreements better than 4% for the calorimetric response, though some features of the data are not precisely modeled. These measurements are used to tune the MINERvA detector simulation and evaluate systematic uncertainties in support of the MINE...
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The skin is the largest organ of the body that protects it from the external environment. High- frequency ultra sound (HF-US) has been used to visualize the skin in depth and to diagnose some pathologies in dermatological applications. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) includes several techniques that provide values of particular physical properties. In this thesis work, three QUS parameters are explained and used to characterize healthy skin through HF-US: attenuation coefficient slope (ACS), backscatter coefficient (BSC) and shear wave speed (SWS). They were estimated with the regularized spectral-log difference (RSLD) method, the reference phan- tom method, and the crawling wave sonoelastography method, respectively. All the three parameters were assessed in phantoms, ex vivo and in vivo skin. In calibrated phantoms, RSLD showed a reduc- tion of up to 93% of the standard deviation concern...