The study of neutrino-nucleus interactions has recently seen rapid development with a new generation of accelerator-based neutrino experiments employing medium and heavy nuclear targets for the study of neutrino oscillations. A few unexpected results
in the study of quasi-elastic scattering and single photon production have spurred a revisiting of the underlying nuclear physics and connections to electron-nucleus scattering. A thorough understanding and resolution of these issues is essential for future progress in the study of neutrino oscillations. A recent workshop hosted by the Institute of Nuclear Theory at the University of Washington (INT-13-54W) examined experimental and theoretical developments in neutrino-nucleus interactions and related measurements from electron and pion scattering. We summarize the discussions at the workshop pertaining to the aforementioned issues in quasi-elastic scattering and single photon production, particularly where there was consensus on the highest priority issues to be resolved and the path towards resolving them.
The Booster Neutrino Experiment (MiniBooNE) searches for numu-to-nue oscillations using the O(1 GeV) neutrino beam produced by the Booster synchrotron at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL). The Booster delivers protons with 8 GeV kineti
c energy (8.89 GeV/c momentum) to a beryllium target, producing neutrinos from the decay of secondary particles in the beam line. We describe the Monte Carlo simulation methods used to estimate the flux of neutrinos from the beamline incident on the MiniBooNE detector for both polarities of the focussing horn. The simulation uses the Geant4 framework for propagating particles, accounting for electromagnetic processes and hadronic interactions in the beamline materials, as well as the decay of particles. The absolute double differential cross sections of pion and kaon production in the simulation have been tuned to match external measurements, as have the hadronic cross sections for nucleons and pions. The statistical precision of the flux predictions is enhanced through reweighting and resampling techniques. Systematic errors in the flux estimation have been determined by varying parameters within their uncertainties, accounting for correlations where appropriate.
