No Arabic abstract
Neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering ($ u {rm A}_{el}$) provides a unique laboratory to study the quantum-mechanical (QM) coherency effects in electroweak interactions. The deviations of the cross-sections from those of completely coherent systems can be quantitatively characterized through a coherency parameter $alpha ( q^2 )$. The relations between $alpha$ and the underlying nuclear physics in terms of nuclear form factors are derived. The dependence of cross-section on $alpha ( q^2 )$ for the various neutrino sources is presented. The $alpha ( q^2 )$-values are evaluated from the measured data of the COHERENT CsI and Ar experiments. Complete coherency and decoherency conditions are excluded by the CsI data with $p {=} 0.004$ at $q^2 {=} 3.1 {times} 10^{3} ~ {rm MeV^2}$ and with $p {=} 0.016$ at $q^2 {=} 2.3 {times} 10^{3} ~ {rm MeV^2}$, respectively, verifying that both QM superpositions and nuclear many-body effects contribute to $ u {rm A}_{el}$ interactions.
Neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering provides a unique laboratory to study the quantum mechanical coherency effects in electroweak interactions, towards which several experimental programs are being actively pursued. We report results of our quantitative studies on the transitions towards decoherency. A parameter ($alpha$) is identified to describe the degree of coherency, and its variations with incoming neutrino energy, detector threshold and target nucleus are studied. The ranges of $alpha$ which can be probed with realistic neutrino experiments are derived, indicating complementarity between projects with different sources and targets. Uncertainties in nuclear physics and in $alpha$ would constrain sensitivities in probing physics beyond the standard model. The maximum neutrino energies corresponding to $alpha$>0.95 are derived.
The presence of new neutrino-quark interactions can enhance, deplete or distort the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) event rate. The new interactions may involve CP violating phases that can potentially affect these features. Assuming light vector mediators, we study the effects of CP violation on the CEvNS process in the COHERENT sodium-iodine, liquid argon and germanium detectors. We identify a region in parameter space for which the event rate always involves a dip and another one for which this is never the case. We show that the presence of a dip in the event rate spectrum can be used to constraint CP violating effects, in such a way that the larger the detector volume the tighter the constraints. Furthermore, it allows the reconstruction of the effective coupling responsible for the signal with an uncertainty determined by recoil energy resolution. In the region where no dip is present, we find that CP violating parameters can mimic the Standard Model CEvNS prediction or spectra induced by real parameters. We point out that the interpretation of CEvNS data in terms of a light vector mediator should take into account possible CP violating effects. Finally, we stress that our results are qualitatively applicable for CEvNS induced by solar or reactor neutrinos. Thus, the CP violating effects discussed here and their consequences should be taken into account as well in the analysis of data from multi-ton dark matter detectors or experiments such as CONUS, $ u$-cleus or CONNIE.
Rescattering following a neutrino-nucleus reaction changes the number, energy, and direction of detectable hadrons. In turn, this affects the selection and kinematic distributions of subsamples of neutrino events used for interaction or oscillation analysis. This technical note focuses on three forms of two-body rescattering. Elastic hadron+nucleus scattering primarily changes the direction of the hadron with very little energy transfer. Secondly, a hadron+nucleon quasi-elastic process leads to the knockout of a single struck nucleon, possibly with charge exchange between the two hadrons. Also, a pion can be absorbed leading to the ejection of two nucleons. There was an error in the code of the {small GENIE} neutrino event generator that affects these processes. We present examples of the change with the fixed version of the scattering process, but also compare these specifically to turning off elastic scattering completely, which is similar to other neutrino event generator configurations or a potential Equick-fix to already generated samples. Three examples are taken from current topics of interest: transverse kinematics observables in quasielastic neutrino reactions, the pion angle with respect to the incoming and outgoing lepton for $Delta$ reactions with a charged pion in the final state, and the angle between two protons in reactions with no pions present. Elastic hadron+nucleus scattering in its unfixed form makes a large distortion in distributions of transverse kinematic imbalances scattering, but only mild distortion in other observables. The distortion of the other two processes is also mild for all distributions considered. The correct form of hadron+nucleus scattering process could play a role in describing the width and center of the sharp peak in the inferred Fermi-motion of the struck nucleon or be benchmarked using (e,ep) data.
We study the sensitivity of detectors with directional sensitivity to coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ u$NS), and how these detectors complement measurements of the nuclear recoil energy. We consider stopped pion and reactor neutrino sources, and use gaseous helium and fluorine as examples of detector material. We generate Standard Model predictions, and compare to scenarios that include new, light vector or scalar mediators. We show that directional detectors can provide valuable additional information in discerning new physics, and we identify prominent spectral features in both the angular and the recoil energy spectrum for light mediators, even for nuclear recoil energy thresholds as high as $sim 50$ keV. Combined with energy and timing information, directional information can play an important role in extracting new physics from CE$ u$NS experiments.
The physics reach of a low threshold (100 eV) scintillating argon bubble chamber sensitive to Coherent Elastic neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CE$ u$NS) from reactor neutrinos is studied. The sensitivity to the weak mixing angle, neutrino magnetic moment, and a light $Z$ gauge boson mediator are analyzed. A Monte Carlo simulation of the backgrounds is performed to assess their contribution to the signal. The analysis shows that world-leading sensitivities are achieved with a one-year exposure for a 10 kg chamber at 3 m from a 1 MW$_{th}$ research reactor or a 100 kg chamber at 30 m from a 2000 MW$_{th}$ power reactor. Such a detector has the potential to become the leading technology to study CE$ u$NS using nuclear reactors.