Measurement of Neutral Current Pi 0 Cross Section using T2K ND280 Pi 0 Detector

The T2K experiment is a long baseline neutrino experiment designed to directly measure $\nu_\mu\;\rightarrow\;\nu_e$ oscillation, thereby provide a measurement of $\theta_{13}$, the last unknown neutrino mixing angle. To achieve this goal, a beam of muon neutrinos is produced at the Japanese Proton Accelerator Research Complex (JPARC) in Tokai-Mura, Japan and sent 295 kilometers across Japan towards the Super-Kamiokande detector. One of the major backgrounds of the $\nu_e$ appearance measurement is from the production of $\pi^0$s from the neutral current $\nu_\mu$ interactions where the photons from the $\pi^0$ decay mimic the $\nu_e$ appearance signal. In order to constrain the uncertainty on this background, a $\pi^0$-detector (P$\O$D) has been designed and installed as part of the T2K near detector at 280 meters from the beam origin (ND280). The P$\O$D is designed specifically to measure the neutral current $\pi^0$ production cross section on water. In this talk, we present the details of this measurement.