Measurements of π± , K± , K0S, Λ and proton production in proton–carbon interactions at 31 GeV/c with the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN SPS

Abstract

Measurements of hadron production in p + C interactions at 31 GeV/c are performed using the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN SPS. The analysis is based on the full set of data collected in 2009 using a graphite target with a thickness of 4 % of a nuclear interaction length. Inelastic and production cross sections as well as spectra of (Formula presented.) , (Formula presented.) , p, (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.) are measured with high precision. These measurements are essential for improved calculations of the initial neutrino fluxes in the T2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan. A comparison of the NA61/SHINE measurements with predictions of several hadroproduction models is presented.