Gamma-ray production in neutral-current neutrino-oxygen interactions at energies above 200 MeV

TL;DR

This paper calculates gamma-ray production cross sections in neutrino-oxygen interactions above 200 MeV, revealing that at 600 MeV, about 41% of neutral-current events emit gamma-rays over 6 MeV, mainly from the p_{3/2} state.

Contribution

It provides a realistic, electron-scattering-tested model for gamma-ray production in neutrino-oxygen interactions at energies above 200 MeV, focusing on the dominant single-nucleon knockout mechanism.

Findings

At 600 MeV, 41% of neutral-current interactions emit gamma-rays >6 MeV.

The p_{3/2} state dominates the gamma-ray emission contribution.

The model aligns well with existing electron scattering data.

Abstract

We report the results of a calculation of the neutrino- and antineutrino-induced gamma-ray production cross section for oxygen target. Our analysis is focused on the kinematical region of neutrino energy larger than ~200MeV, in which single-nucleon knockout is known to be the dominant reaction mechanism. The numerical results have been obtained using a realistic model of the target spectral function, extensively tested against electron-nucleus scattering data. We find that at neutrino energy 600 MeV the fraction of neutral-current interactions leading to emission of gamma-rays of energy larger than 6 MeV is ~41%, and that the contribution of the p_{3/2} state is overwhelming.