A unified approach to electron and neutrino elastic scattering off nuclei with an application to the study of the axial structure

TL;DR

This paper establishes a direct relationship between elastic electron and neutrino scattering observables, enabling the determination of neutrino cross sections from electron scattering data, with applications to nuclear axial structure studies.

Contribution

It introduces a unified approach linking electron and neutrino elastic scattering, facilitating cross-section determination and uncertainty analysis, with a focus on nuclear axial contributions.

Findings

Relationship between electron and neutrino scattering observables established

Method demonstrated using Hartree-Fock nuclear models

Prospects for measuring axial contributions in odd nuclei analyzed

Abstract

We show a relationship between elastic electron scattering observables and the elastic neutrino cross section that provides a straightforward determination of the latter from experimental data of the former and relates their uncertainties. An illustration of this procedure is presented using a Hartree-Fock mean field for the nuclear structure of a set of even-even nuclear targets, using the spectra of the neutrinos produced in pion decay at rest. We also analyze the prospects to measure the incoherent axial contribution to the neutrino elastic scattering in odd targets.