Flux-integrated semiexclusive cross sections for charged-current quasielastic and neutral-current elastic neutrino scattering off ${}^{40}$Ar and a sterile neutrino oscillation study

TL;DR

This paper calculates flux-integrated differential cross sections for neutrino scattering on argon, considering different axial masses and strange quark contributions, and explores their use in sterile neutrino oscillation studies.

Contribution

It provides new flux-integrated cross section calculations for argon neutrino interactions, incorporating sterile neutrino oscillation effects in a 3+1 framework.

Findings

Cross sections depend on oscillation parameters.

The ratio of measured to predicted cross sections can indicate sterile neutrino oscillations.

Results are relevant for the SBN experiment's far detector analysis.

Abstract

Flux-integrated semiexclusive differential cross sections for charged-current quasielastic and neutral-current elastic neutrino scattering on argon are analyzed. The cross sections are calculated using the relativistic distorted-wave impulse approximation with values of the nucleon axial mass $M_A=1$ GeV and 1.2 GeV. The elastic scattering cross sections are also computed for different strange quark contributions to the neutral-current axial form factor. The flux-integrated differential cross sections as functions of reconstructed neutrino energy are evaluated for the far detector of the SBN experiment. The effects of the short base-line neutrino oscillations are taken into account in a 3+1 framework. We found that cross sections depend on oscillation parameters and the ratio of the measured and predicted cross sections can be used in a sterile neutrino oscillation study.