Measurement of the neutrino component of an anti-neutrino beam observed by a non-magnetized detector

Abstract

Two independent methods are employed to measure the neutrino flux of the anti-neutrino-mode beam observed by the MiniBooNE detector. The first method compares data to simulated event rates in a high purity \numu induced charged-current single \pip (CC1\pip) sample while the second exploits the difference between the angular distributions of muons created in \numu and \numub charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE) interactions. The results from both analyses indicate the prediction of the neutrino flux component of the pre-dominately anti-neutrino beam is over-estimated - the CC1\pip analysis indicates the predicted \numu flux should be scaled by $0.76 \pm 0.11$, while the CCQE angular fit yields $0.65 \pm 0.23$. The energy spectrum of the flux prediction is checked by repeating the analyses in bins of reconstructed neutrino energy, and the results show that the spectral shape is well modeled. These analyses are a demonstration of techniques for measuring the neutrino contamination of anti-neutrino beams observed by future non-magnetized detectors.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, published in Physical Review D, latest version reflects changes from referee comment