Neutrino-nucleus cross sections in $^{12}C$ and $^{40}Ar$ with KDAR neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper investigates theoretical uncertainties in neutrino-nucleus cross sections for $^{12}C$ and $^{40}Ar$ at around 236 MeV, crucial for precision neutrino experiments, using a microscopic model accounting for nuclear medium effects.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of nuclear medium effects on neutrino-nucleus cross sections and angular-energy distributions at low energies, enhancing the accuracy of theoretical predictions.

Findings

Nuclear medium effects significantly influence cross sections.

Microscopic model results align with existing literature.

Uncertainties due to nuclear effects are quantified.

Abstract

High intensity monoenergetic muon neutrinos of energy 236 MeV from kaon decay at rest (KDAR) at the medium energy proton accelerator facilities like J-PARC and Fermilab are proposed to be used for making precision measurements of neutrino-nucleus cross sections in $^{12}C$ and $^{40}Ar$ and perform neutrino oscillation experiments in $\nu_\mu \to \nu_\mu$ and $\nu_\mu \to \nu_e$ modes. In view of these developments, we study the theoretical uncertainties arising due to the nuclear medium effects in the neutrino-nucleus cross sections as well as in the angular and energy distributions of the charged leptons produced in the charged current (CC) induced reactions by $\nu_\mu$ and $\nu_e$ in $^{12}C$ and $^{40}Ar$ in the energy region of $E_{\nu_e(\nu_\mu)}<$ 300 MeV. The calculations have been done in a microscopic model using the local density approximation which takes into account the nuclear effects due to the Fermi motion, binding energy and long range correlations. The results are compared with the other calculations available in the literature.