# Quasi-Elastic Neutrino Reactions on Carbon and Lead Nuclei

## TL;DR

This paper investigates neutrino interactions with carbon and lead nuclei using relativistic mean field theory, analyzing cross sections at various energies and considering strange-quark effects, with implications for neutrino detection experiments.

## Contribution

It introduces a detailed relativistic model for neutrino-nucleus reactions on carbon and lead, including strange-quark effects and comparisons with experimental data.

## Key findings

- Cross sections vary with neutrino energy and target nucleus.
- Strange-quark content influences the reaction cross sections.
- Results align with MiniBooNE data for carbon reactions.

## Abstract

We examine neutral-current quasi-elastic neutrino-nucleus reactions on $^{12}$C and $^{208}$Pb targets. We use the relativistic mean field theory approach to describe the nuclear dynamics. We compute the cross sections for the scattering of 150-MeV, 500-MeV and 1000-MeV neutrinos on a $^{12}$C target and study the effect of the strange-quark content of the nucleon which appears in these reactions via the isoscalar weak current. We compare our results with the data of the MiniBooNE experiment for mineral oil (CH$_2$). We also calculate the cross section for the quasi-elastic neutron knockout reaction of 20 to 60-MeV neutrinos on a $^{208}$Pb target which is relevant to plans to use lead as a target material in future supernova neutrino detectors.