Coherent Pion Production by Neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper reviews the features of coherent pion production by neutrinos on nuclei, using PCAC to relate it to elastic pion-nucleus scattering, and presents updated rate estimates aligning theory with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a PCAC-based method to estimate neutrino-induced coherent pion production rates, correcting previous overestimations and aligning with experimental bounds.

Findings

Updated rates are significantly smaller than older estimates.

The method aligns theoretical predictions with experimental measurements.

Provides detailed distributions based on hadronic data.

Abstract

In this talk I review the main features of the coherent/diffractive pion production by neutrinos on nuclei. The method is based on PCAC and relates the reaction $\textbf{boson} + \textbf{nucleus} \to \textbf{pion} + \textbf{nucleus}$ to elastic pion-nucleus scattering. Estimates for the expected rates and distributions in neutrino reactions are presented with the help of hadronic data. The absolute rates are significantly smaller than the older estimates which brings theory in agreement with the neutral current measurements and the bounds in charged current reactions.