Superscaling and Neutral Current Quasielastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering beyond the Relativistic Fermi Gas Model

TL;DR

This paper extends superscaling analysis to neutral current quasielastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, comparing models beyond the relativistic Fermi gas to better understand neutrino interactions at 1 GeV energies.

Contribution

It introduces a superscaling approach using the coherent density fluctuation model for neutral current neutrino scattering, surpassing the traditional relativistic Fermi gas model.

Findings

The coherent density fluctuation model provides a different scaling function than the relativistic Fermi gas.

Results show notable differences between models in predicting neutrino scattering observables.

Comparison with electron scattering data validates the superscaling approach.

Abstract

The superscaling analysis is extended to include quasielastic (QE) scattering via the weak neutral current of neutrinos and antineutrinos from nuclei. The scaling function obtained within the coherent density fluctuation model (used previously in calculations of QE inclusive electron and charge-changing (CC) neutrino scattering) is applied to neutral current neutrino and antineutrino scattering with energies of 1 GeV from $^{12}$C with a proton and neutron knockout (u-channel inclusive processes). The results are compared with those obtained using the scaling function from the relativistic Fermi gas model and the scaling function as determined from the superscaling analysis (SuSA) of QE electron scattering.