Neutrino-nucleus interaction models and their impact on oscillation analyses

Abstract

In neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrino interactions at the detector are simulated using event generators which attempt to reflect our understanding of nuclear physics. We study the impact of different neutrino interactions and nuclear models on the determination of neutrino oscillation parameters. We use two independent neutrino event generators, GENIE and GiBUU, and apply them to a setup with a conventional neutrino beam aiming at a water Čerenkov detector, for which only the QE-like sample is selected. Subsequently, we perform a fit to the oscillation parameters in the $ν_μ$ disappearance channel.

23 pages, 9 figures. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D