Charged-current inclusive neutrino cross sections in the SuperScaling model including quasielastic, pion production and meson-exchange contributions

TL;DR

This paper evaluates charged-current inclusive neutrino-nucleus cross sections using an extended superscaling model, incorporating quasielastic, pion production, and meson-exchange contributions, and compares results with experimental data.

Contribution

It extends the superscaling model to include pion production and meson-exchange currents, providing a comprehensive approach to neutrino cross section calculations.

Findings

Good agreement with T2K and SciBooNE data at ~0.8 GeV neutrino energy.

Two-body current effects are minor at the studied kinematics.

Beyond-Delta effects become relevant at higher neutrino energies.

Abstract

Charged current inclusive neutrino-nucleus cross sections are evaluated using the superscaling model for quasielastic scattering and its extension to the pion production region. The contribution of two-particle-two-hole vector meson-exchange current excitations is also considered within a fully relativistic model tested against electron scattering data. The results are compared with the inclusive neutrino-nucleus data from the T2K and SciBooNE experiments. For experiments where $\langle E_\nu \rangle \sim 0.8$ GeV, the three mechanisms considered in this work provide good agreement with the data. However, when the neutrino energy is larger, effects from beyond the $\Delta$ also appear to be playing a role. The results show that processes induced by two-body currents play a minor role at the kinematics considered.