Measurement of νμ charged-current single π0 production on hydrocarbon in the few-GeV region using MINERvA

The semiexclusive channel νμ+CH→μ-π0+nucleon(s) is analyzed using MINERvA exposed to the low-energy NuMI νμ beam with spectral peak at Eν≃3 GeV. Differential cross sections for muon momentum and production angle, π0 kinetic energy and production angle, and for squared four-momentum transfer are reported, and the cross section σ(Eν) is obtained over the range 1.5 GeV≤Eν<20 GeV. Results are compared to GENIE and NuWro predictions and to published MINERvA cross sections for charged-current π+(π0) production by νμ(νμ) neutrinos. Disagreements between data and simulation are observed at very low and relatively high values for muon angle and for Q2 that may reflect shortfalls in modeling of interactions on carbon. For π0 kinematic distributions, however, the data are consistent with the simulation and provide support for generator treatments of pion intranuclear scattering. Using signal-event subsamples that have reconstructed protons as well as π0 mesons, the pπ0 invariant mass distribution is obtained, and the decay polar and azimuthal angle distributions in the rest frame of the pπ0 system are measured in the region of Δ(1232)+ production, W<1.4 GeV.