Electron Scattering and Neutrino Physics

Abstract

A thorough understanding of neutrino-nucleus scattering physics is crucial for the successful execution of the entire US neutrino physics program. Neutrino-nucleus interaction constitutes one of the biggest systematic uncertainties in neutrino experiments - both at intermediate energies affecting long-baseline Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), as well as at low energies affecting coherent scattering neutrino program - and could well be the difference between achieving or missing discovery level precision. To this end, electron-nucleus scattering experiments provide vital information to test, assess and validate different nuclear models and event generators intended to be used in neutrino experiments. In this white paper, we highlight connections between electron- and neutrino-nucleus scattering physics at energies ranging from 10s of MeV to a few GeV, review the status of ongoing and planned electron scattering experiments, identify gaps, and layout a path forward that benefits the neutrino community. We also highlight the systemic challenges with respect to the divide between the nuclear and high-energy physics communities and funding that presents additional hurdle in mobilizing these connections to the benefit of neutrino programs.

37 pages, contribution to Snowmass 2021

References in corpus (11)

• Observation of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering
• Inclusive quasi-elastic electron-nucleus scattering
• COHERENT constraints on nonstandard neutrino interactions
• Electron- and neutrino-nucleus scattering from the quasielastic to the resonance region
• Extensions of Superscaling from Relativistic Mean Field Theory: the SuSAv2 Model
• Measurement of Ratios of ${\nu }_{\mu }$ Charged-Current Cross Sections on C, Fe, and Pb to CH at Neutrino Energies 2-20 GeV
• The influence of the nuclear medium on inclusive electron and neutrino scattering off nuclei
• Scaling of the F_2 structure function in nuclei and quark distributions at x>1
• Assessing the accuracy of the GENIE event generator with electron-scattering data
• Measurement of the Ar(e,e${}^{\prime }$ p) and Ti(e,e${}^{\prime }$ p) cross sections in Jefferson Lab Hall A
• First Determination of the 27Al Neutron Distribution Radius from a Parity-Violating Electron Scattering Measurement

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Event Generators for High-Energy Physics Experiments
• Charged-current quasielastic neutrino scattering from ${}^{12}$C in an extended superscaling model with two-nucleon emission
• Spectral function for ${}^4$He using the Chebyshev expansion in coupled-cluster theory
• Weak interaction axial form factors of the octet baryons in nuclear medium
• Implementation and investigation of electron-nucleus scattering in the \textsc{NEUT} neutrino event generator
• Theory of Majorana-Type Heavy Ion Double Charge Exchange Reactions by Pion--Nucleon Isotensor Interactions
• Electron-nucleus cross sections from transfer learning
• Towards mono-energetic virtual $\nu$ beam cross-section measurements: A feasibility study of $\nu$-Ar interaction analysis with DUNE-PRISM
• Re-optimization of a deep neural network model for electron-carbon scattering using new experimental data
• Single pion-production and pion propagation in Achilles