Coherent pion production in neutrino and antineutrino interactions on nuclei of heavy freon molecules

Abstract

Studying the coherent diffractive production of pions in neutrino and antineutrino scattering off the nuclei of freon molecules we have observed for the first time in one experiment all three states of the isospin triplet of the axial part of the weak charged and neutral currents. For the corresponding cross sections we derive

$$\begin{array}{*{20}c} {\sigma _{coh}^v (\pi ^ + ) = (106 \pm 16) \cdot 10^{ - 40} {{cm^2 } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{cm^2 } {\left\langle {nucl.} \right\rangle }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\left\langle {nucl.} \right\rangle }}} \\ {\sigma _{coh}^{\bar v} (\pi ^ - ) = (113 \pm 35) \cdot 10^{ - 40} {{cm^2 } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{cm^2 } {\left\langle {nucl.} \right\rangle }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\left\langle {nucl.} \right\rangle }}and} \\ {\sigma _{coh}^v (\pi ^0 ) = (52 \pm 19) \cdot 10^{ - 40} {{cm^2 } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{cm^2 } {\left\langle {nucl.} \right\rangle }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\left\langle {nucl.} \right\rangle }}} \\ \end{array} $$

.

Comparing our data with theoretical predictions based on the standard model of weak interactions we find reasonable agreement. Independently from any model of coherent pion production we determine the isovector axial vector coupling constant to be |β|=0.99±0.20.