Inclusive production of ρ 0(770), f0(980) and f2(1270) mesons in νμ charged currents interactions

The inclusive production of the meson resonances ρ0(770), f0(980) and f2(1270) in neutrino–
nucleus charged current interactions has been studied with the NOMAD detector exposed to the
wide band neutrino beam generated by 450 GeV protons at the CERN SPS. For the first time the
f0(980) meson is observed in neutrino interactions. The statistical significance of its observation
is 6 standard deviations. The presence of f2(1270) in neutrino interactions is reliably established.
The average multiplicity of these three resonances is measured as a function of several kinematic
variables. The experimental results are compared to the multiplicities obtained from a simulation
based on the Lund model. In addition, the average multiplicity of ρ0(770) in antineutrino–nucleus
interactions is measured.