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Constraining neutrino-nucleon form factors with charged-current scattering at the Electron-Ion Collider

Guang Yang1 and Praveen Kumar1,2

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 116031 – Published 22 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/btj9-n88g

Abstract

Next-generation neutrino oscillation experiments such as the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment require percent-level knowledge of neutrino-nucleon interaction cross sections. The nucleon axial form factor FA(Q2), parametrized by the axial mass MA, is the dominant source of uncertainty in the quasielastic channel, and the parity-violating structure function xF3 is poorly constrained on free nucleons. We propose using charged-current (CC) electron-proton scattering at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) to address both problems simultaneously. The measurement exploits three key features of the EIC: (1) helicity-selective electron bunches provide in situ electromagnetic background rejection; (2) a longitudinally polarized proton target enables extraction of FA(Q2) through the target-spin asymmetry AUL; and (3) the y-distribution leverage in CC deep inelastic scattering (DIS) separates F2 and xF3 on a free proton, without nuclear corrections. Using a Fisher information analysis at s=141  GeV with 500  fb−1 of integrated luminosity, we project the Cramér-Rao statistical floor of δMA≈0.03  GeV (3%). Incorporating first-order realistic detector effects, such as zero-degree calorimeter acceptance, Q2 smearing (5%), and background noise from helicity subtraction, the projected sensitivity is severely background-limited due to the small signal-to-background ratio (S/B≈3×10−4) in the elastic channel. Achieving competitive sensitivity (δMA≈0.14  GeV) would require ∼10−7 background suppression, 3 orders of magnitude beyond current projections. The CC DIS y distribution provides subpercent extraction of xF3W− over 0.05<x<0.5, representing the most robust electroweak measurement in the near term.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 116031– Published 22 June, 2026
  • Received 19 April 2026
  • Accepted 21 May 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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