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DOE OSTI · 3374129

One- and two-body current contributions to lepton-nucleus scattering

Lovato, Alessandro [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trento (Italy). Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (INFN-TIFPA)] (ORCID:0000000221944954)·Rocco, Noemi [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000271507322)·Steinberg, Noah [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000304274888)
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Abstract

Modeling lepton-nucleus scattering with the accuracy required to extract neutrino-oscillation parameters from long- and short-baseline experiments necessitates retaining most quantum-mechanical effects. One such effect is the interference between one- and two-body current operators in the transition currents, which has been known to enhance the cross sections, especially in transverse kinematics. Here, we incorporate such interference in the spectral function formalism, which combines relativistic currents and kinematics with an accurate description of the initial target state. Our analysis of lepton-scattering off 12 C demonstrates that interference effects appreciably enhance the transverse electromagnetic response functions and the flux-folded neutrino-nucleus cross section, in both cases, improving the agreement with experimental data. We discuss the impact on the neutrino-oscillation program and the determination of nucleon axial form factors.

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73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICSElectroweak interactions in nuclear physicsLepton induced nuclear reactionsNuclear forcesNuclear many-body theoryNucleus-neutrino interactions

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Lovato, Alessandro [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trento (Italy). Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (INFN-TIFPA)] (ORCID:0000000221944954), Rocco, Noemi [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000271507322), Steinberg, Noah [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)] (ORCID:0000000304274888). 2025-10-07. One- and two-body current contributions to lepton-nucleus scattering. https://doi.org/10.1103/m645-5whh

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