Abstract
Precision neutrino oscillation experiments of the future---of which DUNE is a prime example---require reliable event generator tools. The 1--4 GeV energy regime, in which DUNE will operate, is marked by the transition from the low-energy nuclear physics domain to that of perturbative QCD, resulting in rich and highly complex physics. Given this complexity, it is important to establish a validation procedure capable of disentangling the physical processes and testing each of them individually. Here, we demonstrate the utility of this approach by benchmarking the GENIE generator, currently used by all Fermilab-based experiments, against a broad set of inclusive electron-scattering data. This comparison takes advantage of the fact that, while electron-nucleus and neutrino-nucleus processes share a lot of common physics, electron scattering gives one access to precisely known beam energies and scattering kinematics. Exploring the kinematic parameter range relevant to DUNE in this manner, we observe patterns of large discrepancies between the generator and data. These discrepancies are most prominent in the pion-producing regimes and are present not only in medium-sized nuclei, including argon, but also in deuterium and hydrogen targets, indicating mismodeled hadronic physics. Several directions for possible improvement are discussed.
Highlights
Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in the physics of neutrino-nucleus interactions
IV, we briefly summarize the models implemented in GENIE to treat these physical processes
V, we consider recent datasets collected for a few nuclear targets at the same kinematics; we find that GENIE reproduces certain features of the data quite well, while dramatically mispredicting certain other features
Summary
Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in the physics of neutrino-nucleus interactions. The goal of the present paper is to carry out a systematic electron-scattering comparison of GENIE in the kinematic regimes relevant to DUNE and NOvA. This will allow us to go beyond identifying discrepancies with individual datasets, and map out the patterns of discrepancies across datasets. The broad coverage of the space of kinematic conditions will allow us to address our second main aim: to establish in which physical regimes the generator discrepancies are most severe Experiments such as NOvA and MINERvA have been focusing much of their recent cross section studies on multinucleon effects, on the socalled meson-exchange currents (MEC). In Appendix C we acknowledge experiments that did not report their measurements in form of cross sections, urging them to follow through with this important step of data analysis
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