Inelastic Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions within the Spectral Function Formalism.

Area of Science:

• Nuclear physics
• Particle physics

Background:

• Neutrino interactions with atomic nuclei are fundamental to understanding nuclear structure and the Standard Model.
• Previous models often treated different interaction channels separately, lacking a unified approach from a realistic nuclear ground state.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate neutrino-carbon interactions across a broad energy range (hundreds of MeV to tens of GeV).
• To consistently model quasielastic scattering, resonance production, and deep inelastic scattering using a realistic nuclear spectral function.
• To compare and analyze the contributions of these different interaction mechanisms.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing the impulse approximation framework.
• Employing a realistic spectral function derived from the nuclear ground state.
• Consistently calculating contributions from quasielastic scattering, resonance production, and deep inelastic scattering.

Main Results:

• The study presents a unified model for neutrino-carbon interactions.
• It provides a consistent calculation of quasielastic, resonance, and deep inelastic scattering contributions.
• Analysis compares the relative importance of these processes within the studied energy range.

Conclusions:

• The developed model offers a more comprehensive understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions.
• This approach allows for a consistent analysis of different scattering mechanisms based on nuclear structure.
• The findings contribute to more accurate predictions in neutrino physics and astrophysics.