Low-energy excitations and quasielastic contribution to electron-nucleus and neutrino-nucleus scattering in the continuum random phase approximation

Abstract

We present a detailed study of a continuum random phase approximation approach to quasielastic electron-nucleus and neutrino-nucleus scattering. The formalism is validated by confronting ($e,e^{\prime }$) cross-section predictions with electron scattering data for the nuclear targets ${}^{12}$C, ${}^{16}$O, and ${}^{40}$Ca, in the kinematic region where quasielastic scattering is expected to dominate. We examine the longitudinal and transverse contributions to ${}^{12}$C($e,e^{\prime }$) and compare them with the available data. Further, we study the ${}^{12}$C($\hat{I}{½}_{\hat{I}}¼,\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$) cross sections relevant for accelerator-based neutrino-oscillation experiments. We pay special attention to low-energy excitations which can account for non-negligible contributions in measurements, and require a beyond-Fermi-gas formalism.

10 pages, 14 figures. Version published in Physical Review C