Testing of quasi-elastic neutrino charged-current and two-body meson exchange current models with the MiniBooNE neutrino data and analysis of these processes at energies available at the NOvA experiment

A. V. Butkevich,S. V. Luchuk

doi:10.1103/physrevd.99.093001

Abstract

The charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE) scattering of muon neutrinos on a carbon target is analyzed using the relativistic distorted-wave impulse approximation (RDWIA) taking into account the contribution of the two-particle and two-hole meson exchange current ($2p-2h$ MEC) to the weak response functions. A fit the RDWIA+MEC model to the MiniBooNE neutrino data is performed and the best fit value of nucleon axial mass $M_A=1.2 \pm 0.06$ GeV is obtained. We also extract the values of the axial form factor $F_A(Q^2)$ as a function of the squared momentum transfer $Q^2$ from the measured $d\sigma/dQ^2$ cross section. The flux-integrated CCQE-like differential cross sections for neutrino scattering at energies of the NOvA experiment are estimated within the RDWIA+MEC approach.

Highlights

The high-intensity muon-(anti)neutrino beams used in long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments are peaked in the energy range from a few hundreds of mega-electronvolts to several giga-electron-volts
II, we briefly present the relativistic distorted-wave impulse approximation (RDWIA) þ meson exchange current (MEC) model and the procedure which allows the determination of values of the axial form factor from the dσ=dQ2 differential cross section
Our main interest is to show the capability of the present model, RDWIA þ MEC, of successfully describing the MiniBooNE neutrino scattering data and calculating within this approach the charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE)-like flux-integrated cross sections at energies available at the NOvA experiment

Summary

Introduction

The high-intensity muon-(anti)neutrino beams used in long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments are peaked in the energy range from a few hundreds of mega-electronvolts to several giga-electron-volts. In this energy regime, the dominant contribution to neutrino-nucleus scattering comes from the charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE) interaction, two-body meson exchange current (MEC), resonance production, and deep inelastic processes. To determine values of neutrino oscillation parameters, the probabilities of νμ disappearance and νe appearance vs neutrino energy are extracted in these experiments The accuracy of these measurements depends explicitly on how well we are able to evaluate the energy of the incoming neutrino.

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Conclusion