Neutrino nucleus scattering

TL;DR

This paper reviews the current theoretical models of neutrino-nuclear interactions at low to intermediate energies, compares them with experimental data, and discusses their accuracy for different nuclei and energy ranges.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of theoretical models with experimental data for neutrino interactions with $^{12}$C and $^{16}$O, highlighting areas of agreement and discrepancy.

Findings

The theory accurately reproduces data for low-energy neutrinos and ground state excitations.

The models give similar results for neutrino energies of several hundred MeV.

The theory overestimates cross sections for higher energy neutrinos from pion decay in flight.

Abstract

The status of the theoretical description of neutrino-nuclear interaction for low and intermediate energies is reviewed and its result compared with the existing data. Particular emphasis is on $^{12}$C, the ingredient of liquid scintillator, and on $^{16}$ the main component of the water \v{C}erenkov detectors. First, I show that the data on the exclusive process populating the ground state of $^{12}$N are well reproduced by the theory. This is also the case for the excitation of the continuum with low energy neutrinos from the muon decay at rest and for the muon capture. However, for not yet understood reasons, the theory overestimates the cross section for higher energy neutrinos from the pion decay in flight, by up to 50%. I also show that the Continuum Random Phase Approximation and the Relativistic Fermi Gas model give very similar full and differential cross sections for the neutrino energies of several hundred MeV, thus checking one method against the other.