Measurement of νμ/ ¯νμCC double-differential cross sections on MINERvA hydrocarbon target for the shallow inelastic scattering background region

Cross section measurements are essential for all neutrino oscillation experiments. In fact, uncertainties associated to cross section model parameters constitute one of the dominant sources of errors in current oscillation analyses. In particular, understanding neutrino-induced pion production in the kinematic regime known as shallow inelastic scattering (SIS) is critical for improving neutrino interaction modeling in event generators. In this study, 416,233 (237,468) muon neutrino (antineutrino) interactions are measured in a SIS background region, predominantly made of baryon resonances. The analyzed datasets were collected from 2013 to 2019, comprising neutrinos generated by the Fermilab NuMI facility, with mean energy of 6 GeV, and the interactions occurred on the MINERvA hydrocarbon target. The measurements are presented as double-differential cross sections in terms of the outgoing muon longitudinal and transverse momentum components, as well as the Bjorken x and y variables. Comparisons between the extracted data and predictions from several generators reveal significant discrepancies across most kinematic bins.