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Unraveling the flux-averaged neutrino–nucleus cross section

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Abstract

The interpretation of the nuclear cross sections measured using accelerator neutrino beams involves prohibitive difficulties, arising primarily from the average over the incoming neutrino flux. The broad energy distribution of the beam particles severely hampers the determination of the energy transfer to the nuclear target, the knowledge of which is needed to pin down the dominant reaction mechanism. Overcoming this problem requires the development of a theoretical approach suitable to describe neutrino interactions at energies ranging from hundreds of MeV to few GeV. In this paper, it is argued that the approach based on factorisation of the nuclear cross section and the Green’s function formalism provides a consistent framework for the calculation of neutrino–nucleus interactions in both the quasi-elastic and inelastic channels. The near-degeneracy between theoretical models based on different assumptions, and the use of electron scattering data to advance the understanding of neutrino-nucleus cross sections are also discussed.

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Notes

  1. Theoretical studies of the momentum distribution sum rule in isospin-symmetric nuclear matter strongly suggest that the contribution of \((A-1)\)-nucleon states involving more than one particle excited to the continuum by ground-state correlations is negligibly small [34].

  2. In the LFG model the nucleon Fermi momenta of isospin-symmetric nuclei depend on position through \(k_F(r) = [3 \pi ^2 \varrho _A(r)]^{1/3}\), \(\varrho _A(r)\) being the density distribution normalised to the nuclear charge Z = A/2.

  3. Here we use standard spectroscopic notation, according to which S and P states correspond to orbital angular momentum \(\ell = 0\) and 1, respectively.

  4. Note that this expression applies to isospin-symmetric targets, in which the neutron and proton spectral functions can be assumed to be identical.

  5. For the sake of simplicity, here, and in what follows, the contributions of s and c quarks are not taken into account.

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Funding

This research was supported by Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Grant TEONGRAV).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INFN and Department of Physics, Sapienza University, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Omar Benhar

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  1. Omar Benhar
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Correspondence to Omar Benhar.

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Benhar, O. Unraveling the flux-averaged neutrino–nucleus cross section. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 230, 4309–4320 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00290-y

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