论文标题
中微子核互动建模对新物理搜索的影响
The impact of neutrino-nucleus interaction modeling on new physics searches
论文作者
论文摘要
准确的中微子核相互作用建模是基于加速器的中微子程序成功的必不可少的要求。由于对横截面没有令人满意的描述，因此实验调整了中微子核的相互作用与数据相互作用以减轻错误模型。在这项工作中，我们研究了近检测器调整和横截面错误模块之间的相互作用如何影响新的物理搜索。我们对中微子事件进行了现实的模拟，并紧随Nova的调整，这是中微子实验中首次发布的此类程序。我们分析了两个说明性的新物理场景，无菌中微子和光中性粒细胞标量，其中呈现相关的实验特征和敏感性区域，并不进行调整。虽然调整不会洗净无菌中微子振荡模式，但横截面错误模型会偏向实验灵敏度。在光中性粒细胞标量的情况下，横截面模型中的变化完全主导着灵敏度。我们的发现揭示了提高我们对中微子核相互作用的理论理解，并估计调整对新物理搜索的影响的关键需求。我们敦促中微子实验遵循Nova的榜样，并发布其调整程序的细节，并制定策略，以更强大地说明横截面的不确定性，这将扩大其物理计划的范围。
Accurate neutrino-nucleus interaction modeling is an essential requirement for the success of the accelerator-based neutrino program. As no satisfactory description of cross sections exists, experiments tune neutrino-nucleus interactions to data to mitigate mis-modeling. In this work, we study how the interplay between near detector tuning and cross section mis-modeling affects new physics searches. We perform a realistic simulation of neutrino events and closely follow NOvA's tuning, the first published of such procedures in a neutrino experiment. We analyze two illustrative new physics scenarios, sterile neutrinos and light neutrinophilic scalars, presenting the relevant experimental signatures and the sensitivity regions with and without tuning. While the tuning does not wash out sterile neutrino oscillation patterns, cross section mis-modeling can bias the experimental sensitivity. In the case of light neutrinophilic scalars, variations in cross section models completely dominate the sensitivity regardless of any tuning. Our findings reveal the critical need to improve our theoretical understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions, and to estimate the impact of tuning on new physics searches. We urge neutrino experiments to follow NOvA's example and publish the details of their tuning procedure, and to develop strategies to more robustly account for cross section uncertainties, which will expand the scope of their physics program.
