Dilepton Production by Neutrinos in Neon

Abstract

In an exposure of the Fermilab 15-ft bubble chamber filled with a heavy neon-hydrogen mixture to a broadband neutrino beam, we have observed 81 dilepton events of the type ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}+\mathrm{Ne}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}+{e}^{+}+\dots{}$. This corresponds to (0.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.15)% of the total charged-current neutrino interactions. A total of fifteen neutral strange-particle decays (${{K}_{s}}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{-}}, {\ensuremath{\Lambda}}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}p{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$) were found in these dilepton events. When corrected for detection efficiencies and unobservable strange particles, this is consistent with the production of approximately one strange particle per event.