Forward single ${\pi }^0$ production by coherent neutral-current interactions, $\nu \mathcal{A}\to \nu \mathcal{A}{\pi }^0$, is investigated using a $2.8\times 10^{20}$ protons-on-target exposure of the MINOS Near Detector. For single-shower topologies, the event distribution in production angle exhibits a clear excess above the estimated background at very forward angles for visible energy in the range 1–8 GeV. Cross sections are obtained for the detector medium comprised of 80% iron and 20% carbon nuclei with $⟨\mathcal{A}⟩=48$, the highest-$⟨\mathcal{A}⟩$ target used to date in the study of this coherent reaction. The total cross section for coherent neutral-current single ${\pi }^0$ production initiated by the ${\nu }_{\mu }$ flux of the NuMI low-energy beam with mean (mode) $E_{\nu }$ of 4.9 GeV (3.0 GeV), is $77.6\pm 5.0(\mathrm{stat}{)}_{-16.8}^{+15.0}(\mathrm{syst})\times {10}^{-40}{\mathrm{cm}}^2\mathrm{per}\mathrm{nucleus}$. The results are in good agreement with predictions of the Berger-Sehgal model.

• Received 22 August 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.94.072006