Neutrino Energy Reconstruction Methods Using Electron Scattering Data

Abstract

The precise measurement of neutrino properties is among the highest priorities in fundamental particle physics, involving many experiments worldwide. Since the experiments rely on the interactions of neutrinos with bound nucleons inside atomic nuclei, the planned advances in the scope and precision of these experiments requires a commensurate effort in the understanding and modeling of the hadronic and nuclear physics of these interactions, which is incorporated as a nuclear model in neutrino event generators. This model is essential to every phase of experimental analyses and its theoretical uncertainties play an important role in interpreting every result.Any nuclear model used to describe neutrino-nucleus scattering should first be validated against these data. Since the vector part of the weak response is related to the electro-magnetic response through CVC, such a test is necessary, but not sufficient, to ensure the validity of a model for given kinematics, namely given values of the transferred energy ω(= ν for neutrinos) and momentum q. The main challenges in connecting electron and neutrino reactions:• matching models used to predict neutrino-nucleus observables to electron scattering data.• expanding theory to include more semi-inclusive predictions.• provide semi-inclusive neutron, proton and pion data sets with broad angular range.The cross section for neutrino scattering from nuclei is sensitive to the same underlying structure determined by QCD, and as probed with pure electromagnetic processes, such as charged lepton scattering from nucleons and nuclei. As such, there are a number of ways that electron scattering data inform ν - A cross section modeling, as well as providing a test-bed for model validation. In contrast to past and current neutrino beams, charged lepton scattering has the distinct advantage of nearly monochromatic beams with well determined energies, allowing for a significantly cleaner kinematic separation of the various production mechanisms in inclusive scattering, such as reso- nance production and nucleon elastic scattering. In addition to providing important experimental input such as nucleon isovector elastic form factors and resonance transition form factors, electron scattering data provide critical information on the distributions of initial state momentum and energy for nucleons in nuclei, the importance of 2-body currents and final state interaction effects. In this analysis, we will give a brief overview of the experimental input provided by electron scattering data.