L. Pickering

Measurement of nuclear effects in neutrino interactions with minimal dependence on neutrino energy

We present a phenomenological study of nuclear effects in neutrino charged-current interactions, using transverse kinematic imbalances in exclusive measurements. Novel observables with minimal dependence on neutrino energy are proposed to study quasielastic scattering, and especially resonance production. They should be able to provide direct constraints on nuclear effects in neutrino- and antineutrino-nucleus interactions.

NUISANCE: a neutrino cross-section generator tuning and comparison framework

NUISANCE is an open source C++ framework which facilitates detailed studies of neutrino interaction cross-section models implemented in Monte Carlo neutrino event generators. It provides a host of automated methods to perform comparisons of multiple generators to published cross-section measurements and each other. External reweighting libraries are used to allow the end-user to evaluate the impact of model parameters variations in the generators with data, or to tune the generator predictions to arbitrary dataset combinations. The design is modular and focusses on ease-of-use to allow new datasets and more generators to be added without requiring detailed understanding of the entire NUISANCE package. We discuss the motivation for the NUISANCE framework and suggested usage cases, alongside a description of its core structure.

Examining Nuclear Effects in Neutrino Interactions with Transverse Kinematic Imbalance

We present a Monte Carlo truth study examining nuclear effects in charged-current neutrino interactions using observables constructed in the transverse plane. Three distributions are introduced that show very weak dependence on neutrino flux and its associated uncertainty. Measurements comparing these distributions between quasi-elastic-like and single charged pion final states will provide new constraints of nuclear effects. It is suggested that the on-axis position in the NuMI beam provides the correct flux to take advantage of this reduced energy dependence in measuring nuclear effect-generated transverse imbalances.

Event reweighting with the NuWro neutrino interaction generator

Event reweighting has been implemented in the NuWro neutrino event generator for a number of free theory parameters in the interaction model. Event reweighting is a key analysis technique, used to efficiently study the effect of neutrino interaction model uncertainties. This opens up the possibility for NuWro to be used as a primary event generator by experimental analysis groups. A preliminary model tuning to ANL and BNL data of quasi-elastic and single pion production events was performed to validate the reweighting engine.

Probing Nuclear Effects at the T2K Near Detector Using Single-Transverse Kinematic Imbalance

In order to make precision measurements of neutrino oscillations using few-GeV neutrino beams a detailed understanding of nuclear effects in neutrino scattering is essential. Recent studies have revealed that single-transverse kinematic imbalance (STKI), defined in the plane transverse to an incoming neutrino beam, can act as a unique probe of these nuclear effects. This work first illustrates that an exclusive measurement of STKI at the off-axis near detector of the T2K experiment (ND280) is expected to distinguish the presence of interactions with two nucleons producing two holes (2p-2h) from alterations of the predominant underlying cross-section parameter (MA- the nucleon axial mass). Such a measurement is then demonstrated with fake data, showing substantial nuclear model separation potential.