First Measurement of Anti-muon-neutrino Induced PI0 Production Cross Sections at E(anti-muon-neutrino) 2-10 GeV

Understanding of the PI0 production via anti-neutrino-nucleus charged current interaction in the neutrino energy region of 1-10 GeV is essential for neutrino oscillation experiments. In this thesis, we present a measurement of charged current 0 production from anti-muon neutrinos scattering on a polystyrene scintillator (CH) target in the MINERA experiment. A method for selecting and reconstructing CCPI0 events is presented. The PI0 and MU+ are fully reconstructed in the final state allowing for the measurement of the final state kinematics and the neutrino energy. We describe the two methods developed in this analysis for PI0 reconstruction in the MINERvA experiment: Hough Transform and Angle Scan. Interacting neutrinos have energy ~ 3.0GeV and PI0 have energy  ~0.3GeV . The total CCPI0 inclusive cross-section is presented as a function of neutrino energy and Q2. The total CCPI0 exclusive cross-section is presented as a function of neutrino energy, Q2 and the final state kinematics. Cross Section ratio between CCPI0 exclusive and CCPI0 inclusive for data and Monte Carlo are presented. Neutrino beam data corresponding to 1.019 x 10^20 protons on target have been analyzed. For CCPI0 inclusive sample we reconstructed 891 events, and for CCPI0 exclusive sample we reconstructed 514 events.