Assessing the accuracy of the GENIE event generator with electron-scattering data

Abstract

Precision neutrino oscillation experiments of the future---of which DUNE is a prime example---require reliable event generator tools. The 1--4 GeV energy regime, in which DUNE will operate, is marked by the transition from the low-energy nuclear physics domain to that of perturbative QCD, resulting in rich and highly complex physics. Given this complexity, it is important to establish a validation procedure capable of disentangling the physical processes and testing each of them individually. Here, we demonstrate the utility of this approach by benchmarking the GENIE generator, currently used by all Fermilab-based experiments, against a broad set of inclusive electron-scattering data. This comparison takes advantage of the fact that, while electron-nucleus and neutrino-nucleus processes share a lot of common physics, electron scattering gives one access to precisely known beam energies and scattering kinematics. Exploring the kinematic parameter range relevant to DUNE in this manner, we observe patterns of large discrepancies between the generator and data. These discrepancies are most prominent in the pion-producing regimes and are present not only in medium-sized nuclei, including argon, but also in deuterium and hydrogen targets, indicating mismodeled hadronic physics. Several directions for possible improvement are discussed.

arXiv comment22 pages, 20 figures, matches the published version

References in corpus (27)

• PYTHIA 6.4 Physics and Manual
• PYTHIA 6.2 Physics and Manual
• The GENIE Neutrino Monte Carlo Generator
• The T2K Experiment
• Design and Construction of the MicroBooNE Detector
• A new parameterization of the nucleon elastic form factors
• Physics Potential of a Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment Using J-PARC Neutrino Beam and Hyper-Kamiokande
• Inclusive quasi-elastic electron-nucleus scattering
• A Hadronization Model for Few-GeV Neutrino Interactions
• Improving the accuracy of neutrino energy reconstruction in charged-current quasielastic scattering off nuclear targets
• Inclusive Electron-Nucleus Scattering at Large Momentum Transfer
• Improved low Q2 model for neutrino and electron nucleon cross sections in few GeV region
• Higher Twist, ${\xi }_w$ Scaling, and Effective $LOPDFs$ for Lepton Scattering in the Few GeV Region
• Understanding the energy resolution of liquid argon neutrino detectors
• Applications of quark-hadron duality in F2 structure function
• First Measurement of the Ti$(e,e^{\prime })\mathrm{X}$ Cross Section at Jefferson Lab
• First Measurement of the Ar$(e,e^{\prime })X$ Cross Section at Jefferson Lab
• Inclusive Electron Scattering from Nuclei at $x\simeq 1$
• Measurements of the Delta(1232) Transition Form Factor and the Ratio sigma_nσ_p From Inelastic Electron-Proton and Electron-Deuteron Scattering
• Scaling of the F_2 structure function in nuclei and quark distributions at x>1
• Lepton-Nucleus Cross Section Measurements for DUNE with the LDMX Detector
• Measurement of the cross sections for inclusive electron scattering in the E12-14-012 experiment at Jefferson Lab
• Measurement of the Deuteron Structure Function F2 in the Resonance Region and Evaluation of Its Moments
• Nuclear Structure Functions in the Large x Large Q^2 Kinematic Region in Neutrino Deep Inelastic Scattering
• Comparison of optical potential for nucleons and $\Delta$ resonances
• Test of Fermi Gas Model and Plane-Wave Impulse Approximation Against Electron-Nucleus Scattering Data
• Measurement of the Nucleon Structure Function F2 in the Nuclear Medium and Evaluation of its Moments

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Event Generators for High-Energy Physics Experiments
• Inclusive Electron Scattering And The GENIE Neutrino Event Generator
• ACHILLES: A novel event generator for electron- and neutrino-nucleus scattering
• Electron Scattering and Neutrino Physics
• Measurement of inclusive charged-current $ν_{\numu}$ scattering on hydrocarbon at {<Enu>} 6 GeV with low three-momentum transfer
• Theoretical tools for neutrino scattering: interplay between lattice QCD, EFTs, nuclear physics, phenomenology, and neutrino event generators
• The impact of neutrino-nucleus interaction modeling on new physics searches
• Quasielastic Electromagnetic Scattering Cross Sections and World Data Comparisons in the {\fontfamily{qcr}\selectfont GENIE} Monte Carlo Event Generator
• Simulating hadron test beams in liquid argon
• 16O electroweak response functions from first principles
• Neural Network predictions of inclusive electron-nucleus cross sections
• Electron-nucleus cross sections from transfer learning
• Assessing the theory-data tension in neutrino-induced charged pion production: the effect of final-state nucleon distortion
• Snowmass 2021 LoI: Neutrino-induced Shallow- and Deep-Inelastic Scattering
• Sampling Off-Axis Neutrino Fluxes with the Short-Baseline Near Detector
• Towards mono-energetic virtual $\nu$ beam cross-section measurements: A feasibility study of $\nu$-Ar interaction analysis with DUNE-PRISM