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  • Open Access

Role of Final-State Interaction Modeling in Neutrino-Energy Reconstruction and Oscillation Measurements

Y. Liu1,*, L. Munteanu2,†, and S. Dolan2,‡

  • *Contact author: yinrui@uchicago.edu
  • †Contact author: laura.munteanu@cern.ch
  • ‡Contact author: stephen.joseph.dolan@cern.ch
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 201801 – Published 18 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5ckv-2hpk

Abstract

We present a quantitative demonstration that, without additional theoretical and experimental efforts, realistic variations in final-state interaction (FSI) modeling may alter reconstructed neutrino-energy spectra at next-generation long-baseline experiments by amounts comparable to, or larger than, variations induced by oscillation-parameter shifts at their projected precision. Using the DUNE flux and baseline as a case study, we show that these FSI-driven distortions can mimic the effects of changes in the oscillation parameters Δm322 or δCP, producing a potential degeneracy. Our analysis thereby underscores the urgent need for an improved characterization of FSI to enable robust constraints from near detectors through the development of theory-driven uncertainty parameterizations benchmarked with dedicated new measurements.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 201801– Published 18 May, 2026
  • Received 8 December 2025
  • Revised 27 February 2026
  • Accepted 17 April 2026
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