The first pion-Ar cross-section measurement with the LArIAT experiment

A complete understanding of neutrinos properties requires a study and a characterization of the interactions of the daughter particles created in a neutrino-nucleus interaction. The Liquid Argon In A Testbeam (LArIAT) experiment is a small-scale liquid argon detector situated in the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. The LArIAT experiment is exposed to a tertiary beam comprised of mostly pions along with a mix of muons, protons, kaons, and electrons. LArIAT's goal is to characterize the response of the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) to known incoming charged particles and measure their interactions in Argon, in order to understand their cross-sections and to help developing and tuning simulations and reconstruction algorithms for LArTPC neutrino experiments. The world's first measurement of a pion cross-section on an Argon target, made with the LArIAT detector, is presented here.