Abstract
The MiniBooNE Neutral Current Elastic (NCEL) cross section results are used to extract limits in the $\Delta m^{2}-\sin^{2}\vartheta_{\mu s}$ plane for a 3+1 sterile neutrino model with a mass splitting $0.1 \leq \Delta m^{2} \leq 10.0$ eV$^{2}$. GENIE is used with a cross section model close to the one employed by MiniBooNE to make event rate predictions using simulations on the MiniBooNE target material CH$_{2}$. The axial mass is a free parameter in all fits. Sterile modifications to the flux and changes to the cross section in the simulation relate the two and allow limits to be set on sterile neutrino mixing using cross section results. The large axial mass problem makes it necessary for experiments to perform their own axial mass fits, but a prior fit to the same dataset could mask a sterile oscillation signal if the sterile and cross section model parameters are not independent. We find that for the NCEL dataset there are significant correlations between the sterile and cross section model parameters, making a fit to both models simultaneously necessary to get robust results. Failure to do this results in stronger than warranted limits on the sterile parameters. The general problems that the current uncertainty on charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE) and NCEL cross sections at MiniBooNE energies pose for sterile neutrino measurements are discussed.
Highlights
Generator [11] and the relativistic Fermi gas (RFG) model of Llewellyn-Smith [12] to make event rate predictions with simple Monte Carlo simulations on the MiniBooNE detector medium, CH2
The MiniBooNE Neutral Current Elastic (NCEL) dataset has been fit to various other models which try to account for these effects in a more rigorous way [21, 30, 31]
The RFG model is the appropriate choice of cross section in this analysis because it is still the underlying model in the simulations used by the current generation of neutrino experiments including MiniBooNE, and is commonly used to produce sterile neutrino limits
Summary
The MiniBooNE NCEL cross section results are given in terms of reconstructed kinematic variables so that theorists can use them to test different cross section models. To test oscillation hypotheses using these results, a cross section model is required to relate the energy of the incoming neutrinos to the measured kinematic variables: oscillation results are dependent on the choice of cross section model. This analysis uses a cross section model based on the RFG nuclear model from Bodek and Ritchie [37] to simulate events on CH2 (the MiniBooNE target material) using the GENIE interaction generator [11]. Property Baseline L (m) Average Neutrino Energy (GeV) Energy Range for Measurement (GeV) Signal Events
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