Coherent pion production in neutrino-nucleus collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates neutrino-induced coherent pion production in nuclei at low and intermediate energies, accounting for medium effects and pion wave distortion, revealing significant reductions in cross sections and modifications in pion energy distributions.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model that includes medium effects and pion wave distortion, providing new insights into cross section reductions and energy distribution changes.

Findings

Strong reduction in cross section due to medium effects

Substantial modifications in pion energy distributions

Dependence of results on atomic number

Abstract

We have investigated the neutrino induced coherent pion production reaction at low and intermediate energies including pion, nucleon and Delta(1232) resonance. Medium effects in the production mechanism and the distortion of the pion wave function are included in the calculation. We find a strong reduction of the cross section due to these effects and also substantial modifications in the energy distributions of the final pion. The dependence on the atomic number is discussed.