- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Monte Carlo study of KDAR νμ charged-current scattering on carbon

R. K. Pradhan1,*, R. Lalnuntluanga2,†, and A. Giri1,‡

  • *Contact author: kumarriteshpradhan@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: tluangaralte.phy@gmail.com
  • ‡Contact author: giria@phy.iith.ac.in
PDF

Phys. Rev. D 112, 053002 – Published 2 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ygcm-4sw8

Abstract

The neutrino energy reconstruction is crucial for reducing systematic uncertainties in neutrino oscillation experiments and improving cross section measurements. Kaon-decays-at-rest (KDAR) neutrinos provide a unique opportunity to probe neutrino-nucleus interactions at low energies with a precisely known energy of 235.5 MeV. This work presents Monte Carlo predictions of missing energy due to nuclear effects in the KDAR νμ charged-current scattering on the carbon nucleus for the J-PARC sterile neutrino search at the J-PARC Spallation Neutron Source. The predictions from genie, nuwro, and gibuu show a significant impact of nuclear and final-state interaction (FSI) models, as well as nucleon removal energy, on missing energy reconstruction. Tuning the hA FSI model improves the predictions from genie. It is also observed that the nucleon elastic component of FSI leads to better predictions in nuwro compared to genie. nuwro shows the best agreement with data among the generators considered; however, the observed discrepancies with data across all generators highlight the limitations of current theoretical descriptions in the low-energy regime and the need for improvements in Monte Carlo modeling.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (50)

  1. L. Alvarez-Ruso et al. (NuSTEC Collaboration), NuSTEC White Paper: Status and challenges of neutrino–nucleus scattering, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 100, 1 (2018).
  2. B. Abi et al. (DUNE Collaboration), Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), far detector technical design report, Volume II: DUNE physics, arXiv:2002.03005.
  3. K. Abe et al. (Hyper-Kamiokande Collaboration), Hyper-Kamiokande Design Report, arXiv:1805.04163.
  4. F. An et al. (JUNO Collaboration), Neutrino physics with JUNO, J. Phys. G 43, 030401 (2016).
  5. M. A. Acero et al. (NOvA Collaboration), First measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters using neutrinos and antineutrinos by NOvA, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 151803 (2019).
  6. K. Abe et al. (T2K Collaboration), Constraint on the matter–antimatter symmetry-violating phase in neutrino oscillations, Nature (London) 580, 339 (2020); 583, E16 (2020).
  7. O. Benhar, N. Farina, H. Nakamura, M. Sakuda, and R. Seki, Electron- and neutrino-nucleus scattering in the impulse approximation regime, Phys. Rev. D 72, 053005 (2005).
  8. R. K. Pradhan, R. Lalnuntluanga, and A. Giri, Improving target neutron momentum reconstruction using MINERνA π0 data, Phys. Rev. D 111, 093002 (2025).
  9. A. Bodek, Pauli blocking for a relativistic Fermi gas in quasielastic lepton nucleus scattering, arXiv:2111.03631.
  10. J. T. Sobczyk, Multinucleon ejection model for meson exchange current neutrino interactions, Phys. Rev. C 86, 015504 (2012).
  11. S. Dytman, Final state interactions in neutrino-nucleus experiments, Acta Phys. Pol. B 40, 2445 (2009).
  12. R. Lalnuntluanga, R. K. Pradhan, and A. Giri, Probing neutrino-nucleus interaction in DUNE and MicroBooNE, Nucl. Phys. B1008, 116703 (2024).
  13. R. L. Workman et al. (Particle Data Group), Review of particle physics, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2022, 083C01 (2022).
  14. A. Aguilar et al. (LSND Collaboration), Evidence for neutrino oscillations from the observation of ν¯e appearance in a ν¯μ beam, Phys. Rev. D 64, 112007 (2001).
  15. A. A. Aguilar-Arevalo et al. (MiniBooNE Collaboration), First measurement of monoenergetic muon neutrino charged current interactions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 141802 (2018).
  16. M. Kusakabe, M.-K. Cheoun, K. S. Kim, M.-a. Hashimoto, M. Ono, K. Nomoto, T. Suzuki, T. Kajino, and G. J. Mathews, Supernova neutrino process of Li and B revisited, Astrophys. J. 872, 164 (2019).
  17. H. Ko et al., Comprehensive analysis of the neutrino process in core-collapsing supernovae, Astrophys. J. 937, 116 (2022).
  18. E. Marzec et al. (JSNS2 Collaboration), First measurement of missing energy due to nuclear effects in monoenergetic neutrino charged-current interactions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 081801 (2025).
  19. C. Andreopoulos, C. Barry, S. Dytman, H. Gallagher, T. Golan, R. Hatcher, G. Perdue, and J. Yarba, The GENIE neutrino Monte Carlo generator: Physics and user manual, arXiv:1510.05494.
  20. C. Juszczak, J. A. Nowak, and J. T. Sobczyk, Simulations from a new neutrino event generator, Nucl. Phys. B, Proc. Suppl. 159, 211 (2006).
  21. O. Buss, T. Gaitanos, K. Gallmeister, H. van Hees, M. Kaskulov, O. Lalakulich, A. B. Larionov, T. Leitner, J. Weil, and U. Mosel, Transport-theoretical description of nuclear reactions, Phys. Rep. 512, 1 (2012).
  22. A. Bodek and J. L. Ritchie, Further studies of Fermi motion effects in lepton scattering from nuclear targets, Phys. Rev. D 24, 1400 (1981).
  23. K. S. Egiyan et al. (CLAS Collaboration), Measurement of 2- and 3-nucleon short range correlation probabilities in nuclei, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 082501 (2006).
  24. O. Benhar, A. Fabrocini, S. Fantoni, and I. Sick, Spectral function of finite nuclei and scattering of GeV electrons, Nucl. Phys. A579, 493 (1994).
  25. A. Nikolakopoulos, V. Pandey, J. Spitz, and N. Jachowicz, Modeling quasielastic interactions of monoenergetic kaon decay-at-rest neutrinos, Phys. Rev. C 103, 064603 (2021).
  26. R. Cruz-Torres, A. Schmidt, G. A. Miller, L. B. Weinstein, N. Barnea, R. Weiss, E. Piasetzky, and O. Hen, Short range correlations and the isospin dependence of nuclear correlation functions, Phys. Lett. B 785, 304 (2018).
  27. R. Gran, J. Nieves, F. Sanchez, and M. J. Vicente Vacas, Neutrino-nucleus quasi-elastic and 2p2h interactions up to 10 GeV, Phys. Rev. D 88, 113007 (2013).
  28. G. Co’, Introducing the random phase approximation theory, Universe 9, 141 (2023).
  29. A. Bodek, S. Avvakumov, R. Bradford, and H. S. Budd, Vector and axial nucleon form factors: A duality constrained parameterization, Eur. Phys. J. C 53, 349 (2008).
  30. J. Nieves, I. R. Simo, F. Sánchez, and M. J. Vicente Vacas, 2p2h excitations, MEC, nucleon correlations and other sources of QE-like events, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Conf. Proc. 12, 010002 (2016).
  31. C. Berger and L. M. Sehgal, Lepton mass effects in single pion production by neutrinos, Phys. Rev. D 76, 113004 (2007).
  32. A. Bodek and U. K. Yang, Modeling deep inelastic cross-sections in the few GeV region, Nucl. Phys. B, Proc. Suppl. 112, 70 (2002).
  33. Z. Koba, H. B. Nielsen, and P. Olesen, Scaling of multiplicity distributions in high-energy hadron collisions, Nucl. Phys. B40, 317 (1972).
  34. L. Alvarez-Ruso et al. (GENIE Collaboration), Recent highlights from genie v3, Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 230, 4449 (2021).
  35. C. H. Llewellyn Smith, Neutrino reactions at accelerator energies, Phys. Rep. 3, 261 (1972).
  36. R. Bradford, A. Bodek, H. S. Budd, and J. Arrington, A new parameterization of the nucleon elastic form-factors, Nucl. Phys. B, Proc. Suppl. 159, 127 (2006).
  37. D. Rein and L. M. Sehgal, Neutrino excitation of baryon resonances and single pion production, Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 133, 79 (1981).
  38. O. Lalakulich and E. A. Paschos, Resonance production by neutrinos. I. J=3/2 resonances, Phys. Rev. D 71, 074003 (2005).
  39. T. Sjostrand, S. Mrenna, and P. Z. Skands, pythia 6.4 physics and manual, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2006) 026.
  40. N. Metropolis, and R. Bivins, M. Storm, J. M. Miller, G. Friedlander, and A. Turkevich, Monte Carlo calculations on intranuclear cascades. 2. High-energy studies and pion processes, Phys. Rev. 110, 204 (1958).
  41. T. Golan, C. Juszczak, and J. T. Sobczyk, Final state interactions effects in neutrino-nucleus interactions, Phys. Rev. C 86, 015505 (2012).
  42. G. Battistoni, P. R. Sala, M. Lantz, A. Ferrari, and G. Smirnov, Neutrino interactions with FLUKA, Acta Phys. Pol. B 40, 2491 (2009).
  43. J. Ranft, Hadron production in hadron—nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions in a dual parton model modified by a formation zone intranuclear cascade, Z. Phys. C 43, 439 (1989).
  44. G. M. Welke, M. Prakash, T. T. S. Kuo, S. Das Gupta, and C. Gale, Azimuthal distributions in heavy ion collisions and the nuclear equation of state, Phys. Rev. C 38, 2101 (1988).
  45. D. Drechsel, O. Hanstein, S. S. Kamalov, and L. Tiator, A Unitary isobar model for pion photoproduction and electroproduction on the proton up to 1-GeV, Nucl. Phys. A645, 145 (1999).
  46. L. P. Kadanoff, Quantum Statistical Mechanics (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2018), 10.1201/9780429493218.
  47. S. Dolan, A. Nikolakopoulos, O. Page, S. Gardiner, N. Jachowicz, and V. Pandey, Implementation of the continuum random phase approximation model in the genie generator and an analysis of nuclear effects in low-energy transfer neutrino interactions, Phys. Rev. D 106, 073001 (2022).
  48. T. Cai et al. (MINERvA Collaboration), Measurement of the axial vector form factor from antineutrino–proton scattering, Nature (London) 614, 48 (2023).
  49. L. A. Harewood and R. Gran, Elastic hadron-nucleus scattering in neutrino-nucleus reactions and transverse kinematics measurements, arXiv:1906.10576.
  50. K. Gallmeister and U. Mosel, Calorimetric analysis in the DUNE, Phys. Rev. D 111, L091301 (2025).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 112, 053002– Published 2 September, 2025
  • Received 24 March 2025
  • Accepted 12 August 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

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.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation