Treatment of flux shape uncertainties in unfolded, flux-averaged neutrino cross-section measurements

Abstract

The exact way of treating flux shape uncertainties in unfolded, flux-averaged neutrino cross-section measurements can lead to subtle issues when comparing the results to model predictions. There is a difference between reporting a cross section in the (unknown) real flux, and reporting a cross section that was extrapolated from the (unknown) real flux to a fixed reference flux. A lot of (most?) current analyses do the former, while the results are compared to model predictions as if they were the latter. This leads to (part of) the flux shape uncertainty being ignored, potentially leading to wrong physics conclusions. The size of the effect is estimated to be sub-dominant, but non-negligible in two example measurements from T2K and MINERvA. This paper describes how the issue arises and provides instructions for possible ways how to treat the flux shape uncertainties correctly.

11 pages, 4 figures, accepted manuscript

References in corpus (1)

• The T2K Neutrino Flux Prediction

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• Inclusive cross section measurements in final states with and without protons for charged-current ${\nu }_{\mu }$-Ar scattering in MicroBooNE
• First simultaneous measurement of differential muon-neutrino charged-current cross sections on argon for final states with and without protons using MicroBooNE data
• Measurements of the ${\nu }_{\mu }$ and ${\bar{\nu }}_{\mu }$-induced Coherent Charged Pion Production Cross Sections on ${}^{12}C$ by the T2K experiment
• Data-driven model validation for neutrino-nucleus cross section measurements
• Improving Neutrino-Nuclei Interaction Models: Recommendations and Case Studies on Peelle's Pertinent Puzzle
• Towards mono-energetic virtual $\nu$ beam cross-section measurements: A feasibility study of $\nu$-Ar interaction analysis with DUNE-PRISM