Nuclear effects in neutrino induced reactions

TL;DR

This paper examines nuclear medium effects on low and medium energy neutrino reactions, emphasizing the importance of RPA correlations, FSI, and nuclear modifications in processes like QE scattering and coherent pion production.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of nuclear medium effects on neutrino reactions, including the impact of RPA, FSI, and pion wave function distortion, with insights into the sensitivity to axial coupling parameters.

Findings

RPA correlations and FSI significantly affect QE process cross sections.

Pion wave function distortion causes strong reduction in coherent pion production cross section.

Results are sensitive to the axial $N\,\Delta$ coupling $C_5^A(0)$.

Abstract

We discuss the relevance of nuclear medium effects in the analysis of some low and medium energy neutrino reactions of current interest. In particular, we study the Quasi-Elastic (QE) process, where RPA correlations and Final State Interactions (FSI) are shown to play a crucial role. We have also investigated the neutrino induced coherent pion production. We find a strong reduction of the cross section due to the distortion of the pion wave function and the modification of the production mechanisms in the nucleus. The sensitivity of the results to the axial $N\Delta$ coupling $C_5^A(0)$ has been also investigated.