Weak Interaction Discussion Group Talk (WIDG): Brandon Eberly, SLAC, “Neutrino-Nucleus Quasielastic Scattering and Pion Production in the MINERvA Experiment”

Event time: 
Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Location: 
Wright Lab, EAL 108 Conference Room (EAL108) See map
268 Whitney Avenue
New Haven 06520
(Location is wheelchair accessible)
Event description: 

Neutrino oscillation experiments are poised to make a number of important measurements within the next fifteen years, including the potential detection of CP violation in the leptonic sector, the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy, and precision measurements of the neutrino mixing parameters. One of the major obstacles to the success of these measurements is the need to accurately reconstruct the neutrino energy, which in turn requires better understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions. This seminar will present an overview of neutrino-nucleus quasielastic scattering and pion production results from the MINERvA experiment. MINERvA reports vertex activity and modifications to the kinematics of final state hadrons that are inconsistent with the current neutrino scattering models used by oscillation experiments. Prospects for improving scattering models will be discussed, as well as future prospects for MINERvA and other neutrino interaction experiments.