The role of de-excitation in the final-state interactions of protons in neutrino-nucleus interactions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nuclear de-excitation affects the final-state interactions of protons in neutrino-nucleus interactions, using Monte Carlo models to improve the accuracy of neutrino energy reconstruction in experiments.

Contribution

It introduces the use of the ABLA de-excitation code in neutrino interaction modeling and develops a nuclear excitation energy simulation tuned to electron-scattering data.

Findings

Nuclear de-excitation significantly influences proton kinematics.

Nuclear clusters can be observed as vertex activity.

De-excitation impacts neutrino energy reconstruction accuracy.

Abstract

Present and next generation of long-baseline accelerator experiments are bringing the measurement of neutrino oscillations into the precision era with ever-increasing statistics. One of the most challenging aspects of achieving such measurements is developing relevant systematic uncertainties in the modeling of nuclear effects in neutrino-nucleus interactions. To address this problem, state-of-the-art detectors are being developed to extract detailed information about all particles produced in neutrino interactions. To fully profit from these experimental advancements, it is essential to have reliable models of propagation of the outgoing hadrons through nuclear matter able to predict how the energy is distributed between all the final-state observed particles. In this article, we investigate the role of nuclear de-excitation in neutrino-nucleus scattering using two Monte Carlo cascade models: NuWro and INCL coupled with the de-excitation code ABLA. The ablation model ABLA is used here for the first time to model de-excitation in neutrino interactions. As input to ABLA, we develop a consistent simulation of nuclear excitation energy tuned to electron-scattering data. The paper includes the characterization of the leading proton kinematics and of the nuclear cluster production during cascade and de-excitation. The observability of nuclear clusters as vertex activity and their role in a precise neutrino energy reconstruction is quantified.