Description:

Title: Can neutrino-induced photon production explain the low energy excess in the MiniBooNE experiment? 

Speaker: Dr. Xilin Zhang, Ohio University and Fermi National Lab
 

Abstract: In this talk, I will summarize our recent study of the Neutral Current (NC)-induced photon production in the MiniBooNE neutrino oscillation experiment. The calculation was motivated by the low energy excess in this experiment [A. A. Aquilar-Arevalo et al. (MiniBooNE Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 231801 (2007); 103, 111801 (2009)]. It was proposed that the NC photon production might explain the excess. However, our computed event numbers (including incoherent and coherent photon productions) for both neutrino and antineutrino runs are consistent with the previous MiniBooNE's estimates. A possible enhancement of the production due to photon-Z boson-meson couplings will be addressed in the talk. Various nuclear effects added in the calculation, including nucleon Fermi motion, Pauli blocking, and the Delta resonance modification in the nuclear medium, will be discussed. I will also talk about our theoretical uncertainties and in the end mention our current efforts on improving this calculation.