Understanding neutrino pion production with the GiBUU model

TL;DR

This paper investigates neutrino-induced pion production using the GiBUU model, analyzing data from multiple experiments to understand nuclear effects and improve systematic uncertainties in neutrino oscillation measurements.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis of pion production with the GiBUU model, highlighting the challenges of achieving a unified description across different experimental datasets.

Findings

MINERvA data favor minimal in-medium modifications

MicroBooNE data require maximum in-medium enhancement

Difficulty in reconciling all datasets with a single model configuration

Abstract

Pion production is a major source of systematic uncertainty in neutrino oscillation measurements. We report a systematic investigation of neutrino-induced pion production using MINERvA and MicroBooNE data within the GiBUU theoretical framework. The analysis begins by establishing baseline model parameters using inclusive and pionless data from MINERvA, MicroBooNE, and T2K experiments. We then examine the role of in-medium effects, including resonance broadening and nucleon-nucleon final-state interactions. While agreement with individual datasets can be achieved through specific model configurations, we demonstrate the difficulty of a unified description across all experiments: MINERvA measurements prefer minimum in-medium modifications, whereas MicroBooNE data require the maximum in-medium enhancement, revealing the complexity and richness of the underlying nuclear dynamics.