Neutrino Interactions with Nucleons and Nuclei: Importance for Long-Baseline Experiments

TL;DR

This review discusses current understanding of neutrino interactions with nucleons and nuclei, emphasizing the importance of accurate modeling and energy reconstruction for long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments.

Contribution

It highlights the need for precision-era Monte Carlo generators and detailed reaction modeling to improve neutrino energy reconstruction in oscillation studies.

Findings

Semi-inclusive reaction descriptions are crucial for energy reconstruction.

Advanced transport models align with experimental reaction data.

Uncertainties in energy reconstruction impact oscillation parameter accuracy.

Abstract

This article reviews our present knowledge of neutrino interactions with nucleons and discusses the interactions with nuclei, the target material of all presently running and planned long-baseline experiments. I emphasize descriptions of semi-inclusive reactions and full descriptions of the final state; the latter are needed to reconstruct the incoming neutrino energy from final-state observations. I then discuss Monte Carlo generator and more advanced transport theoretical approaches in connection with experimental results on various reaction mechanisms. Finally, I describe the effects of uncertainties in the reconstruction of the incoming neutrino energy on oscillation parameters. The review argues that the precision era of neutrino physics also needs precision-era generators.