Measurement of the Electron-Neutrino Charged-Current Cross Sections on ${}^{127}$I with the COHERENT NaI$\nu$E detector

Understand

Using an 185-kg NaI[Tl] array, COHERENT has measured the inclusive electron-neutrino charged-current cross section on ${}^{127}$I with pion decay-at-rest neutrinos produced by the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

• Iodine is one the heaviest targets for which low-energy ($\leq$ 50 MeV) inelastic neutrino-nucleus processes have been measured, and this is the first measurement of its inclusive cross section.
• After a five-year detector exposure, COHERENT reports a flux-averaged cross section for electron neutrinos of $9.2^{+2.1}_{-1.8} \times 10^{-40}$ cm$^2$.
• This corresponds to a value that is $\sim$41% lower than predicted using the MARLEY event generator with a measured Gamow-Teller strength distribution.