The axial form factor and polarization of the final nucleon in quasi-elastic \nu-N scattering

TL;DR

This paper calculates the polarization of the final nucleon in charged current quasi-elastic neutrino-nucleon scattering, showing that polarization measurements are highly sensitive to the axial form factor, offering a new way to probe nucleon structure.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of nucleon polarization in neutrino scattering, highlighting its potential to improve understanding of the axial form factor beyond traditional cross section measurements.

Findings

Polarization depends simply on the axial form factor.

Sensitivity to axial mass is stronger in polarization than in cross sections.

Polarization measurements can provide valuable information on nucleon structure.

Abstract

We have calculated the polarization of the final nucleon in charged current quasi-elastic \nu -N scattering. We show that the longitudinal and transverse polarizations, as well as their ratio exhibit simple dependence on the axial form factor and their sensitivity to the axial mass is much stronger than that of the cross section. This suggests that measurements of the polarization of the nucleon in the high-statistics neutrino experiments could provide important information on the axial form factor.