Relativistic Models for Quasi-Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering

Abstract. Two relativistic approaches to charged-current quasielastic neutrino-nucleus scattering are illustrated and com-pared: one is phenomenological and based on the superscaling behavior of electron scattering data and the other relies onthe microscopic description of nuclear dynamics in relativistic mean field theory. The role of meson exchange currents i n thetwo-particle two-hole sector is explored. The predictionsof the models for differential and total cross sections are presentedand compared with the MiniBooNE data. Keywords: Neutrino interactions; Relativistic mean field theory; Mes on exhcange currents; Superscaling; Quasielastic scattering.PACS: 25.30.Pt, 13.15.+g, 24.10.Jv [Presented by M.B. Barbaro at PANIC 2011, MIT, Cambridge, MA. July 2011] The recent MiniBooNE data on muon neutrino charged-currentquasielastic (CCQE) scattering [1] have raisedan important debate on the role played by both nuclear and nucleonic ingredients entering in the description of thereaction. Unexpectedly, the cross section turns out to be substantially underestimated by the Relativistic Fermi Gas(RFG) prediction, unless an unusually large ad hoc value of the axial mass M