Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions at the LBNF Near Detector

TL;DR

This paper models neutrino-argon interactions at LBNF energies using the GiBUU framework, highlighting the importance of multiple reaction channels for accurate cross section predictions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, transport-theoretical calculation of neutrino-argon interactions, including all relevant reaction channels, for the first time at LBNF energies.

Findings

Quasielastic scattering accounts for about 1/3 of the total cross section.

Pion production channels contribute approximately 2/3 of the total cross section.

A consistent treatment of all reaction channels is essential for accurate modeling.

Abstract

The reaction mechanisms for neutrino interactions with an $^{40}Ar$ nucleus with the LBNF flux are calculated with the Giessen-Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) transport-theoretical implementation of these interactions. Quasielastic scattering, many-body effects, pion production and absorption and Deep Inelastic Scattering are discussed; they all play a role at the LBNF energies and are experimentally entangled with each other. Quasielastic scattering makes up for only about 1/3 of the total cross section whereas pion production channels make up about 2/3 of the total. This underlines the need for a consistent description of the neutrino-nucleus reaction that treats all channels on an equal, consistent footing. The results discussed here can also serve as useful guideposts for the Intermediate Neutrino Program.