A study of inclusive charged current neutrino interactions in deuterium

In this thesis the results of an analysis of inclusive neutrino and antineutrino interaction on deuterium nuclei are presented. The use of deuterium as a target provides a mean to study proton and neutron scattering separately. The presently accepted theory of electro-weak interactions is reviewed. Applications of the quark-parton model in the context of deep-inelastic neutrino interactions on nucleons are summarized. The concept of scaling and its consequences are treated, together with some sources of violation of scaling. The properties of the CERN wide-band neutrino beam and an overview of the elements of this beam are given. The method to determine the energy distribution and the composition of the neutrino and antineutrino beam is described. The technique employed to separate neutrino interactions on protons and neutrons is discussed. Results of the measurement of the total nucleon charged-current cross-sections and differential cross-sections are presented. The relative contributions of quarks and antiquarks to the neutrino cross-sections are deduced from y-distributions and compared to those obtained from the total cross-section measurements. Finally, the analysis of the structure functions is given. (Auth.)