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The semi-inclusive cross section of two-nucleon emission induced by neutrinos and antineutrinos is computed employing the relativistic mean field model of nuclear matter and the dynamics of meson exchange currents. Within this model we explore a factorization approximation based on the product of an integrated two-hole spectral function and a two-nucleon cross section averaged over hole pairs. We demonstrate that the integrated spectral function of the uncorrelated Fermi gas can be analytically computed, and we derive a simple fully relativistic formula for this function, showcasing its dependency solely on both missing momentum and missing energy. A prescription for the average momenta of the two holes in the factorized two-nucleon cross section is provided, assuming that these momenta are perpendicular to the missing momentum in the center-of-mass system. The validity of the factorized approach is assessed by comparing it with the unfactorized calculation. Our investigation includes the study of the semi-inclusive cross section integrated over the energy of one of the emitted nucleons and the cross section integrated over the emission angles of the two nucleons and the outgoing muon kinematics. A comparison is made with the pure phase-space model and other models from the literature. The results of this analysis offer valuable insights into the influence of the semi-inclusive hadronic tensor on the cross section, providing a deeper understanding of the underlying nuclear processes., Comment: 34 pages, 16 figures

This paper delves into the distribution of semi-inclusive events involving the emission of two nucleons in (anti) neutrino charged-current scattering. The analysis is conducted within the framework of relativistic mean field theory applied to nuclear matter. To quantify the likelihood of such semi-inclusive events occurring, we employ a relativistic model of meson-exchange currents that aligns with the 2p2h inclusive cross-section. The outcomes are presented in terms of one-fold and two-fold integrated semi-inclusive cross sections. To highlight disparities among the various emission channels, including proton-proton, neutron-proton, and neutron-neutron, we compare them against a purely phase-space isotropic distribution within the center of mass of the two nucleons. These comparisons reveal significant differences in the event distributions, shedding light on the distinctive characteristics of each channel., Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures

The quasielastic cross-section of charged-current neutrino and antineutrino scattering on $^{12}$C is calculated using an improved superscaling model with relativistic effective mass. Our model encompasses two-particle emission induced by neutrinos, which we distinguish into two contributions. The first contribution arises from meson-exchange currents, and its calculation is performed at a microscopic level. The second contribution is phenomenological and extracted from the high-energy tail of the scaling function, assumed to be produced by 2p2h mechanisms where the one-body current plays a role, such as short-range correlations and interferences with MEC, final-state interaction, etc. The model explicitly includes the modification of the relativistic effective mass of the nucleon within the relativistic mean field model of nuclear matter. The meson exchange currents are also consistently calculated within the same model. With this model, we present predictions for the neutrino and antineutrino cross sections of $^{12}$C that have been measured in accelerator experiments., Comment: 15 pages

We present a model that incorporates the effect of two-body currents in quasielastic electron-nucleus scattering within the framework of a consistent superscaling formalism. This is achieved by defining an averaged single-nucleon hadronic tensor based on the 1p1h matrix element of the one-body current plus meson-exchange currents (MEC). The consistent treatment of one- and two-body currents in our model enables the calculation of exchange current effects in the kinematical region where the Fermi gas response is zero, but not the scaling function. The effect of MEC is consistently taken into account when extracting the phenomenological scaling function from electron scattering data. With this model, we investigate the effect of MEC on the response functions taking into account the effective mass of the nucleon, and examine the consequences it has on the inclusive $(e,e')$ cross section. We find that 1p1h MEC deplete the quasielastic transverse response, while they not alter significantly the scaling behavior of (e,e') data., Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures

The effect of the center of mass motion on the high-momentum distributions of correlated nucleon pairs is studied by solving the Bethe-Goldstone equation in nuclear matter with the Granada nucleon-nucleon potential. We show that this coarse-grained potential reduces the problem to an algebraic linear system of five (ten) equations for uncoupled (coupled) partial waves that can be easily solved. The corresponding relative wave functions of correlated pn, pp and nn pairs are computed for different values of their CM momentum. We find that the pn pairs dominate the high-momentum tail of the relative momentum distribution, and that this only depends marginally on center of mass momentum. Our results provide further justification and agreement for the factorization approximation commonly used in the literature. This approximation assumes that the momentum distribution of nucleon pairs can be factorized as the product of the center of mass momentum distribution and the relative momentum distribution., Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures. This version matches the accepted version for publication in Physical Review C

Superscaling in electron scattering from nuclei is re-examined paying special attention to the definition of the averaged single-nucleon responses. The validity of the extrapolation of nucleon responses in the Fermi gas has been examined, which previously lacked a theoretical foundation. To address this issue, we introduce new averaged responses with a momentum distribution smeared around the Fermi surface, allowing for momenta above the Fermi momentum. This approach solves the problem of negativity in the extrapolation away from the scaling region and, at the same time, validates its use in the scaling analysis. This work has important implications for the interpretation of scaling data and contributes to the development of a more complete understanding of the scaling approach.

An extended superscaling analysis of quasielastic electron scattering data is proposed by parametrizing the scaling function as the sum of a symmetric function corresponding to the emission of a single particle plus a contribution from the phase space of two-particle emission. The phase space of two-particle emission (2p2h) is multiplied by a q-dependent parameter that has been fitted to describe the tail behavior of the scaling function. This approach allows for an alternative description of the quasielastic electron scattering data, incorporating the contributions from both single-particle and two-particle emission processes induced by the one-body current and explaining the asymmetry of the scaling function. In a factorized schematic model based on the independent-pair approximation, the 2p2h parameter is related to the high-momentum distribution of the pair averaged over 2p-2h excitations. However, in the phenomenological fitting approach undertaken here, this coefficient includes other contributions such as interference with two-body currents and effects of the final-state interactions. We present predictions for the inclusive two-nucleon emission cross section induced by electrons and neutrinos., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. Major revision, changed title and abstract

An epidemiological study of deaths is carried out in a dozen countries by analyzing the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. These countries are among those most affected by the first wave, i.e. where daily-death data series may closely resemble a solution of the basic SIR equations. The SIR equations are solved parametrically using the proper time as parameter. Some general properties of the SIR solutions are studied such as time-scaling and asymmetry. Additionally, we use approximations to the SIR solutions through Gumbel functions, which present a very similar behavior. The parameters of the SIR model and the Gumbel function are extracted from the data and compared for the different countries. It is found that ten of the selected countries are very well described by the solutions of the SIR model, with a basic reproduction number between 3 and 8.

A thorough understanding of neutrino-nucleus scattering physics is crucial for the successful execution of the entire US neutrino physics program. Neutrino-nucleus interaction constitutes one of the biggest systematic uncertainties in neutrino experiments - both at intermediate energies affecting long-baseline Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), as well as at low energies affecting coherent scattering neutrino program - and could well be the difference between achieving or missing discovery level precision. To this end, electron-nucleus scattering experiments provide vital information to test, assess and validate different nuclear models and event generators intended to be used in neutrino experiments. In this white paper, we highlight connections between electron- and neutrino-nucleus scattering physics at energies ranging from 10s of MeV to a few GeV, review the status of ongoing and planned electron scattering experiments, identify gaps, and layout a path forward that benefits the neutrino community. We also highlight the systemic challenges with respect to the divide between the nuclear and high-energy physics communities and funding that presents additional hurdle in mobilizing these connections to the benefit of neutrino programs., Comment: 37 pages, contribution to Snowmass 2021

A semi-empirical formula for the electroweak response functions in the two-nucleon emission channel is proposed. The method consists in expanding each one of the vector-vector, axial-axial and vector-axial responses as sums of six sub-responses. These corresponds to separating the meson-exchange currents as the sum of three currents of similar structure, and expanding the hadronic tensor, as the sum of the separate contributions from each current plus the interferences between them. For each sub-response we factorize the coupling constants, the electroweak form factors, the phase space and the delta propagator, for the delta forward current. The remaining spin-isospin contributions are encoded in coefficients for each value of the momentum transfer, $q$. The coefficients are fitted to the exact results in the relativistic mean field model of nuclear matter, for each value of $q$. The dependence on the energy transfer, $\omega$ is well described by the semi-empirical formula. The $q$-dependency of the coefficients of the sub-responses can be parameterized or can be interpolated from the provided tables. The description of the five theoretical responses is quite good. The parameters of the formula, the Fermi momentum, number of particles relativistic effective mass, vector energy the electroweak form factors and the coupling constants, can be modified easily. This semi-empirical formula can be applied to the cross-section of neutrinos, antineutrinos and electrons., Comment: Revised version with 32 pages, 11 figures

The Super-Scaling Approach (SuSA) model, based on the analogies between electron and neutrino interactions with nuclei, is reviewed and its application to the description of neutrino-nucleus scattering is presented. The contribution of both one- and two-body relativistic currents is considered. A selection of results is presented where theoretical predictions are compared with cross section measurements from the main ongoing neutrino oscillation experiments., Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures; submitted to EPJ-ST

We reanalyze the scaling properties of inclusive quasielastic electron scattering from $^{12}$C by subtracting from the data the effects of two-particle emission. A model of relativistic meson-exchange currents (MEC) is employed within the mean field theory of nuclear matter, with scalar and vector potentials that induce an effective mass and a vector energy to the nucleons. A new phenomenological quasielastic scaling function is extracted from a selection of the data after the subtraction of the 2p-2h contribution. The resulting superscaling approach with relativistic effective mass (SuSAM*) can be used to compute the genuine quasielastic cross section without contamination of the 2p-2h channel that can then be added separately to obtain the total quasielastic plus two-nucleon emission response., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures

In this work we obtain the analytical expressions for the boundaries of the charged current quasi-elastic double differential cross section in terms of dimensionless energy and momentum transfers, for the Relativistic Fermi Gas (RFG) and the Super-Scaling approach with relativistic effective mass (SuSAM*) models, within the scaling formalism. In addition, we show that this double differential cross section in the scaling formalism has very good properties to be implemented in the Monte Carlo (MC) neutrino event generators, particularly because its peak is almost flat with the (anti)neutrino energy. This makes it especially well-suited for the event generation by the acceptance-rejection method usually used in the neutrino generators. Finally, we analyze the total charged current quasi-elastic (CCQE) cross section $\sigma(E_{\nu})$ for both models and attribute the enhancement observed in the SuSAM* total cross section to the high-momentum components which are present, in a phenomenological way, in its scaling function, while these are absent in the RFG model., Comment: 28 pages, 20 figures, two appendices. A full reorganization of the whole manuscript has been carried out with respect to the previous version. This version matches published version in Physical Review D. Title and abstract has been changed a bit with respect to the previous version as well

Several analytical models have been used in this work to describe the evolution of death cases arising from coronavirus (COVID-19). The Death or `D' model is a simplified version of the SIR (susceptible-infected-recovered) model, which assumes no recovery over time, and allows for the transmission-dynamics equations to be solved analytically. The D-model can be extended to describe various focuses of infection, which may account for the original pandemic (D1), the lockdown (D2) and other effects (Dn). The evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in several countries (China, Spain, Italy, France, UK, Iran, USA and Germany) shows a similar behavior in concord with the D-model trend, characterized by a rapid increase of death cases followed by a slow decline, which are affected by the earliness and efficiency of the lockdown effect. These results are in agreement with more accurate calculations using the extended SIR model with a parametrized solution and more sophisticated Monte Carlo grid simulations, which predict similar trends and indicate a common evolution of the pandemic with universal parameters., Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures

We present a simple analytical model to describe the fast increase of deaths produced by the corona virus (COVID-19) infections. The 'D' (deaths) model comes from a simplified version of the SIR (susceptible-infected-recovered) model known as SI model. It assumes that there is no recovery. In that case the dynamical equations can be solved analytically and the result is extended to describe the D-function that depends on three parameters that we can fit to the data. Results for the data from Spain, Italy and China are presented. The model is validated by comparing with the data of deaths in China, which are well described. This allows to make predictions for the development of the disease in Spain and Italy., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We illustrate the connection between electron and neutrino scattering off nuclei and show how the former process can be used to constrain the description of the latter. After reviewing some of the nuclear models commonly used to study lepton-nucleus reactions, we describe in detail the SuSAv2 model and show how its predictions compare with the available electron- and neutrino-scattering data over the kinematical range going from the quasi-elastic peak to pion-production and highly inelastic scattering., Comment: Shortened version, 71 pages, review article, 52 figures

A detailed study of charged current quasielastic neutrino and antineutrino scattering cross sections on a $^{12}$C target with no pions in the final state is presented. The initial nucleus is described by means of a realistic spectral function $S(p,{\cal E})$ in which nucleon-nucleon correlations are implemented by using natural orbitals through the Jastrow method. The roles played by these correlations and by final-state interactions are analyzed and discussed. The model also includes the contribution of weak two-body currents in the two-particle two-hole sector, evaluated within a fully relativistic Fermi gas. The theoretical predictions are compared with a large set of experimental data for double-differential, single-differential and total integrated cross sections measured by the MiniBooNE, MINER$\nu$A and T2K experiments. Good agreement with experimental data is found over the whole range of neutrino energies. The results are also in global good agreement with the predictions of the superscaling approach, which is based on the analysis of electron-nucleus scattering data, with only a few differences seen at specific kinematics., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review C

We present a global analysis of the inclusive quasielastic electron scattering data with a superscaling approach with relativistic effective mass. The SuSAM* model exploits the approximation of factorization of the scaling function $f^*(\psi^*)$ out of the cross section under quasifree conditions. Our approach is based on the relativistic mean field theory of nuclear matter where a relativistic effective mass for the nucleon encodes the dynamics of nucleons moving in presence of scalar and vector potentials. Both the scaling variable $\psi^*$ and the single nucleon cross sections include the effective mass as a parameter to be fitted to the data alongside the Fermi momentum $k_F$. Several methods to extract the scaling function and its uncertainty from the data are proposed and compared. The model predictions for the quasielastic cross section and the theoretical error bands are presented and discussed for nuclei along the periodic table from $A=2$ to $A=238$: $^2$H, $^3$H, $^3$He, $^4$He, $^{12}$C, $^{6}$Li, $^{9}$Be, $^{24}$Mg, $^{59}$Ni, $^{89}$Y, $^{119}$Sn, $^{181}$Ta, $^{186}$W, $^{197}$Au, $^{16}$O, $^{27}$Al, $^{40}$Ca, $^{48}$Ca, $^{56}$Fe, $^{208}$Pb, and $^{238}$U. We find that more than 9000 of the total $\sim 20000$ data fall within the quasielastic theoretical bands. Predictions for $^{48}$Ti and $^{40}$Ar are also provided for the kinematics of interest to neutrino experiments., Comment: The calculations are not strictly correct because the Fermi momenta for protons and neutrons were not scaled correctly

We use a recent scaling analysis of the quasielastic electron scattering data from $^{12}$C to predict the quasielastic charge-changing neutrino scattering cross sections within an uncertainty band. We use a scaling function extracted from a selection of the $(e,e')$ cross section data, and an effective nucleon mass inspired by the relativistic mean-field model of nuclear matter. The corresponding super-scaling analysis with relativistic effective mass (SuSAM*) describes a large amount of the electron data lying inside a phenomenological quasielastic band. The effective mass incorporates the enhancement of the transverse current produced by the relativistic mean field. The scaling function incorporates nuclear effects beyond the impulse approximation, in particular meson-exchange currents and short range correlations producing tails in the scaling function. Besides its simplicity, this model describes the neutrino data as reasonably well as other more sophisticated nuclear models., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures

We review some recent progress in the study of electroweak interactions in nuclei within the SuSAv2-MEC model. The model has the capability to predict (anti)neutrino scattering observables on different nuclei. The theoretical predictions are compared with the recent T2K $\nu_\mu-^{16}$O data and good agreement is found at all kinematics. The results are very similar to those obtained for $\nu_\mu-^{12}$C scattering, except at low energies, where some differences emerge. The role of meson-exchange currents in the two-particle two-hole channel is analyzed in some detail. In particular it is shown that the density dependence of these contributions is different from what is found for the quasielastic response., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, The 19th International Workshop on Neutrinos from Accelerators-NUFACT2017, 25-30 September, 2017, Uppsala, Sweden

We present the predictions of the SuSAv2-MEC model for the double differential charged-current muonic neutrino (antineutrino) cross section on water for the T2K neutrino (antineutrino) beam. We validate our model by comparing with the available inclusive electron scattering data on oxygen and compare our predictions with the recent T2K $\nu_\mu$-$^{16}$O data, finding good agreement at all kinematics. We show that the results are very similar to those obtained for $\nu_\mu-^{12}$C scattering, except at low energies, and we comment on the origin of this difference. A factorized spectral function model of $^{16}$O is also included for purposes of comparison., Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, JLAB-THY-17-2586. Version 2 accepted for publication in Journal of Physics G: Nucl. Part. Phys

The relativistic effective mass $M^*$, and Fermi momentum, $k_F$, are important ingredients in the determination of the nuclear equation of state, but they have rarely been extracted from experimental data below saturation density where translationally invariant nuclear matter becomes unstable against clusterization into the existing atomic nuclei. Using a novel kind of superscaling analysis of the quasielastic cross section electron scattering data involving a suitable selection criterion and $^{12}$C as a reference nucleus, the global scaling properties of the resulting set of data for 21 nuclei ranging from $^2$H to $^{238}$U are then analyzed. We find that a subset of a third of the about $20000$ data approximately scales to an universal superscaling function with a more constrained uncertainty band than just the reference $^{12}$C case and provides $M^*$ as a function of $k_F$., Comment: 5 pages, 2 tables and 3 figures

The delta-shell representation of the nuclear force allows a simplified treatment of nuclear correlations. We show how this applies to the Bethe-Goldstone equation as an integral equation in coordinate space with a few mesh points, which is solved by inversion of a 5-dimensional square matrix in the single channel cases and a $10\times10$ matrix for the tensor-coupled channels. This allows us to readily obtain the high momentum distribution, for all partial waves, of a back-to-back correlated nucleon pair in nuclear matter. We find that the probability of finding a high-momentum correlated neutron-proton pair is about 18 times that of a proton-proton one, as a result of the strong tensor force, thus confirming in an independent way previous results and measurements., Comment: 19 pages and 10 figures

We present the results of a recent study of meson-exchange two-body currents in lepton-nucleus inclusive scattering at various kinematics and for different nuclei within the Relativistic Fermi Gas model. We show that the associated nuclear response functions at their peaks scale as $A k_F^2$, for Fermi momentum $k_F$ going from 200 to 300 MeV/c and momentum transfer $q$ from $2k_F$ to 2 GeV/c. This behavior is different from what is found for the quasielastic response, which scales as $A/k_F$. This result can be valuable in the analyses of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, which need to implement these nuclear effects in Monte Carlo simulations for different kinematics and nuclear targets., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, Proccedings of the Workshop "Advanced Aspects in Nuclear Structure and Reactions at Different Energy Scales", 25-28 April 2017, Arbanasi, Bulgaria

The theoretical formalism of inclusive lepton-nucleus scattering in the two-nucleon emission channel is discussed in the context of a simplified approach, the modified convolution approximation. This allows one to write the 2p2h responses of the relativistic Fermi gas as a folding integral of two 1p1h responses with the energies and momenta transferred to each nucleon. The idea behind this method is to introduce different average momenta for the two initial nucleons in the matrix elements of the two-body current, with the innovation that they depend on the transferred energies and momenta. This method treats exactly the two-body phase space kinematics, and reduces the formulae of the response functions from seven-dimensional integrals over momenta to much simpler three-dimensional ones. The applicability of the method is checked by comparing with the full results within a model of electroweak meson-exchange currents. The predictions are accurate enough, especially in the low-energy threshold region where the average momentum approximation works the best., Comment: 35 pages, 13 figures

We analyze the peripheral structure of the nucleon-nucleon interaction for LAB energies below 350 MeV. To this end we transform the scattering matrix into the impact parameter representation by analyzing the scaled phase shifts $(L+1/2) \delta_{JLS} (p)$ and the scaled mixing parameters $(L+1/2)\epsilon_{JLS}(p)$ in terms of the impact parameter $b=(L+1/2)/p$. According to the eikonal approximation, at large angular momentum $L$ these functions should become an universal function of $b$, {\it independent} on $L$. This allows to discuss in a rather transparent way the role of statistical and systematic uncertainties in the different long range components of the two-body potential. Implications for peripheral waves obtained in chiral perturbation theory interactions to fifth order (N5LO) or from the large body of NN data considered in the SAID partial wave analysis are also drawn from comparing them with other phenomenological high-quality interactions, constructed to fit scattering data as well. We find that both N5LO and SAID peripheral waves disagree more than $5 \sigma$ with the Granada-2013 statistical analysis, more than $ 2 \sigma$ with the 6 statistically equivalent potentials fitting the Granada-2013 database and about $1 \sigma $ with the historical set of 13 high-quality potentials developed since the 1993 Nijmegen analysis., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Extended discussion with SAID-400 analysis and figures and references added

We analyze the density dependence of the contribution of meson-exchange currents to the lepton-nucleus inclusive cross section in the two-particle two-hole channel. The model is based on the Relativistic Fermi Gas, where each nucleus is characterized by its Fermi momentum $k_F$. We find that the 2p-2h nuclear response functions at their peaks scale as $A k_F^2$ for Fermi momentum going from 200 to 300 MeV/c and momentum transfer $q$ from $2k_F$ to 2 GeV/c. This behavior is different from what is found for the quasielastic response, which scales as $A/k_F$. Additionally, the deep scaling region is also discussed and there the usual scaling behavior is found to be preferable., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

We present a fast and efficient method to compute the inclusive two-particle two-hole (2p-2h) electroweak responses in the neutrino and electron quasielastic inclusive cross sections. The method is based on two approximations. The first neglects the motion of the two initial nucleons below the Fermi momentum, which are considered to be at rest. This approximation, which is reasonable for high values of the momentum transfer, turns out also to be quite good for moderate values of the momentum transfer $q\gtrsim k_F$. The second approximation involves using in the "frozen" meson-exchange currents (MEC) an effective $\Delta$-propagator averaged over the Fermi sea. Within the resulting "frozen nucleon approximation", the inclusive 2p-2h responses are accurately calculated with only a one-dimensional integral over the emission angle of one of the final nucleons, thus drastically simplifying the calculation and reducing the computational time. The latter makes this method especially well-suited for implementation in Monte Carlo neutrino event generators., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures and 1 table

We provide a parametrization of a new phenomenological scaling function obtained from a chi-square fit to a selected set of (e,e') cross section data expanding a band centered around the quasielastic peak. We start from a re-analysis of quasielastic electron scattering from nuclear matter within the relativistic mean field model. The cross section depends on the relativistic effective mass of the nucleon, $m_N^*$, and it scales with respect to a new scaling variable, $\psi^*$. This suggests a new superscaling approach with effective mass (SuSAM*) for predicting quasielastic cross sections within an uncertainty band. The model reproduces previously established results on the enhancement of the transverse response function as compared to the traditional relativistic Fermi gas., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures

We develop a scheme to take into account the effects of short-range nucleon-nucleon correlations in the nucleon-pair wave function by solving the Bethe-Goldstone equation for a coarse grained delta shell potential in S-wave configuration. The S-wave delta shell potential has been adjusted to reproduce the $^1$S$_0$ phase shifts of the AV18 potential for this partial wave up to 2 GeV in the laboratory kinetic energy. We show that a coarse grained potential can describe the high momentum tail of the back-to-back correlated pairs and the $G$-matrix in momentum space. We discuss the easiness and robustness of the calculation in coordinate space and the future improvements and utilities of this model. This work suggests the possibility of using perturbation theory for describing the short-range correlations, and related to this, to substitute the $G$-matrix by an appropriate coarse-grained potential., Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures and one table. Accepted version in Physical Review C

Predictive power in theoretical nuclear physics has been a major concern in the study of nuclear structure and reactions. The Effective Field Theory (EFT) based on chiral expansions provides a model independent hierarchy for many body forces at long distances but their predictive power may be undermined by the regularization scheme de- pendence induced by the counterterms and encoding the short distances dynamics which seem to dominate the uncertainties. We analyze several examples including zero energy NN scattering or perturbative counterterm-free peripheral scattering where one would ex- pect these methods to work best and unveil relevant systematic discrepancies when a fair comparison to the Granada-2013 NN-database and partial wave analysis is undertaken., Comment: 6 pages. 1 figure. Talk presented by E.R.A. at "XIIth Conference on Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum", 29th August to 3rd September 2016, Thessaloniki, Greece

We present our recent progress in the description of neutrino-nucleus interaction in the GeV region, of interest for ongoing and future oscillation experiments. In particular, we discuss the weak excitation of two-particle-two-hole states induced by meson exchange currents in a fully relativistic framework. We compare the results of our model with recent measurements of neutrino scattering cross sections, showing the crucial role played by two-nucleon knockout in the interpretation of the data., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, Proceedings of the 35th International Workshop on Nuclear Theory, Rila Mountains (Bulgaria), June 26 - July 2, 2016. To appear in "Nuclear Theory", vol.35, Eds. M.Gaifarov, N. Minkov, Heron Press, Sofia

We use a recently developed model of relativistic meson-exchange currents to compute the neutron-proton and proton-proton yields in $(\nu_\mu,\mu^-)$ scattering from $^{12}$C in the 2p-2h channel. We compute the response functions and cross sections with the relativistic Fermi gas model for different kinematics from intermediate to high momentum transfers. We find a large contribution of neutron-proton configurations in the initial state, as compared to proton-proton pairs. In the case of charge-changing neutrino scattering the 2p-2h cross section of proton-proton emission ({\it i.e.,} np in the initial state) is much larger than for neutron-proton emission ({\it i.e.,} two neutrons in the initial state) by a $(\omega,q)$-dependent factor. The different emission probabilities of distinct species of nucleon pairs are produced in our model only by meson-exchange currents, mainly by the $\Delta$ isobar current. We also analyze other effects including exchange contributions and the effect of the axial and vector currents., Comment: 9 pages and 8 figures

We present a detailed study of charged-current (CC) neutrino-nucleus reactions in a fully relativis- tic framework and comparisons with recent experiments spanning an energy range from hundreds of MeV up to 100 GeV within the SuperScaling Approach, which is based on the analysis of electron- nucleus scattering data and has been recently improved with the inclusion of Relativistic Mean Field theory effects. We also evaluate and discuss the impact of two-particle two-hole meson-exchange currents (2p-2h MEC) on neutrino-nucleus interactions through the analysis of two-particle two-hole axial and vector contributions to weak response functions in a fully relativistic Fermi gas. The results show a fairly good agreement with experimental data over the whole range of neutrino energies., Comment: 23 pages, 17 figures

We use a relativistic model of meson-exchange currents to compute the proton-neutron and proton-proton yields in $(e,e')$ scattering from $^{12}$C in the 2p-2h channel. We compute the response functions and cross section with the relativistic Fermi gas model for a range of kinematics from intermediate to high momentum transfers. We find a large contribution of neutron-proton configurations in the initial state, as compared to proton-proton pairs. The different emission probabilities of distinct species of nucleon pairs are produced in our model only by meson-exchange currents, mainly by the $\Delta$ isobar current. We also analyze the effect of the exchange contribution and show that the direct/exchange interference strongly affects the determination of the np/pp ratio., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

There exist four pion nucleon coupling constants, $f_{\pi^0, pp}$, $-f_{\pi^0, nn}$, $f_{\pi^+, pn} /\sqrt{2}$ and $ f_{\pi^-, np} /\sqrt{2}$ which coincide when up and down quark masses are identical and the electron charge is zero. While there is no reason why the pion-nucleon-nucleon coupling constants should be identical in the real world, one expects that the small differences might be pinned down from a sufficiently large number of independent and mutually consistent data. Our discussion provides a rationale for our recent determination $$f_p^2 = 0.0759(4) \, , \quad f_{0}^2 = 0.079(1) \,, \quad f_{c}^2 = 0.0763(6) \, , $$ based on a partial wave analysis of the $3\sigma$ self-consistent nucleon-nucleon Granada-2013 database comprising 6713 published data in the period 1950-2013., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Invited talk at the Workshop on Determination of the Fundamental Parameters in QCD, Mainz Institute of Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. Corrected Version matching publication in Mod. Phys. Lett. A

We undertake a covariance error analysis of the pion-nucleon-nucleon coupling constants from the Granada-2013 np and pp database comprising a total of 6720 scattering data below LAB energy of 350 MeV. Assuming a unique pion-nucleon coupling constant in the One Pion Exchange potential above a boundary radius $r_c=3 {\rm fm}$ we obtain $f^2=0.0763(1)$. The effects of charge symmetry breaking on the $^3P_0$, $^3P_1$ and $^3P_2$ partial waves are analyzed and we find $f_{p}^2 = 0.0761(4)$, $f_{0}^2 = 0.0790(9)$ and $f_{c}^2 = 0.0772(6)$ with a strong anti-correlation between $f_c^2$ and $f_0^2$. We successfully test normality for the residuals of the fit. Potential tails in terms of different boundary radii as well as chiral Two-Pion-Exchange contributions as sources of systematic uncertainty are also investigated., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 13 tables. Discussion on naturalness, Analysis of systematic errors, Inclusion of Two Pion Exchange and Tables with phases-shifts added

We develop a model of relativistic, charged meson-exchange currents (MEC) for neutrino-nucleus interactions. The two-body current is the sum of seagull, pion-in-flight, pion-pole and $\Delta$-pole operators. These operators are obtained from the weak pion-production amplitudes for the nucleon derived in the non-linear $\sigma$-model together with weak excitation of the $\Delta(1232)$ resonance and its subsequent decay into $N\pi$. With these currents we compute the five 2p-2h response functions contributing to $(\nu_l,l^-)$ and $(\overline{\nu}_l,l^+)$ reactions in the relativistic Fermi gas model. The total current is the sum of vector and axial two-body currents. The vector current is related to the electromagnetic MEC operator that contributes to electron scattering. This allows one to check our model by comparison with the results of De Pace {\em et al.,} Nuclear Physics A 726 (2003) 303. Thus our model is a natural extension of that model to the weak sector with the addition of the axial MEC operator. The dependences of the response functions on several ingredients of the approach are analyzed. Specifically we discuss relativistic effects, quantify the size of the direct-exchange interferences, and the relative importance of the axial versus vector current., Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures

We analyse the impact of the statistical uncertainties of the the nucleon-nucleon interaction, based on the Granada-2013 np-pp database, on the binding energies of the triton and the alpha particle using a bootstrap method, by solving the Faddeev equations for $^3$H and the Yakubovsky equations for $^4$He respectively. We check that in practice about 30 samples prove enough for a reliable error estimate. An extrapolation of the well fulfilled Tjon-line correlation predicts the experimental binding of the alpha particle within uncertainties., Comment: 5 pages, 4 Figure, Presented by RNP at Workshop for young scientists with research interests focused on physics at FAIR 14-19 February 2016 Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany)

We present our recent progress on the relativistic modeling of electron-nucleus reactions and compare our predictions with inclusive $^{12}$C ($e,e'$) experimental data in a wide kinematical region. The model, originally based on the superscaling phenomenon shown by electron-nucleus scattering data, has recently been improved through the inclusion of Relativistic Mean Field theory effects that take into account the enhancement of the transverse scaling function compared with its longitudinal counterpart. We also discuss the impact of meson-exchange currents (MEC) through the analysis of two-particle two-hole longitudinal and transverse contributions to electromagnetic response functions evaluated within the framework of the relativistic Fermi gas. The formalism is also extended to include the complete inelastic spectrum -- resonant, non-resonant and deep inelastic scattering (DIS). The results show quite good agreement with data over the whole range of energy transfer, including the dip region between the quasielastic peak and the $\Delta$ resonance., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, Published in PRD

We give a brief review on the development of phenomenological NN interactions and the corresponding quantification of statistical uncertainties. We look into the uncertainty of effective interactions broadly used in mean field calculations through the Skyrme parameters and effective field theory counter-terms by estimating both statistical and systematic uncertainties stemming from the NN interaction. We also comment on the role played by different fitting strategies on the light of recent developments., Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure

The axial form factor plays a crucial role in quasielastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, but the error of the theoretical cross section due to uncertainties of $G_A$ remains to be established. Reversely, the extraction of $G_A$ from the neutrino nucleus cross section suffers from large systematic errors due to nuclear model dependencies, while the use of single parameter dipole fits underestimates the errors and prevents an identification of the relevant kinematics for this determination. We propose to use a generalized axial-vector-meson-dominance (AVMD) in conjunction with large-$N_c$ and high energy QCD constrains to model the nucleon axial form factor, as well as the half width rule as an a priori uncertainty estimate. The minimal hadronic ansatz comprises the sum of two monopoles corresponding to the lightest axial-vector mesons being coupled to the axial current. The parameters of the resulting axial form factor are the masses and widths of the two axial mesons as obtained from the averaged PDG values. By applying the half width rule in a Monte Carlo simulation, a distribution of theoretical predictions can then be generated for the neutrino-nucleus quasielastic cross section. We test the model by applying it to the $(\nu_\mu,\mu)$ quasielastic cross section from $^{12}$C for the kinematics of the MiniBooNE experiment. The resulting predictions have no free parameters. We find that the relativistic Fermi gas model globally reproduces the experimental data, giving $\chi^2/ \# bins = 0.81$. A $Q^2$-dependent error analysis of the neutrino data shows that the uncertainties in the axial form factor $G_A(Q^2)$ are comparable to the ones induced by the a priori half width rule. We identify the most sensitive region to be in the range $0.2 \lesssim Q^2 \lesssim 0.6 \,{\rm GeV}^2$., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Extended, revised version for Physical review D

We propagate the statistical uncertainty of experimental NN scattering data into the binding energy of $^3$H and $^4$He. We also study the sensitivity of the magnetic moment and proton radius of the $^3$H to changes in the NN interaction. The calculations are made with the no-core full configuration method in a sufficiently large harmonic oscillator basis. For those light nuclei we obtain $\Delta E$($^3$H) = 0.015 MeV and $\Delta E$($^4$He) = 0.055 MeV., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

We review our work on the statistical uncertainty analysis of the NN force. This is based on the Granada-2013 database where a statistically meaningful partial wave analysis comprising a total of 6713 np and pp published scattering data from 1950 till 2013 below pion production threshold has been made. We stress the necessary conditions required for a correct and self-consistent statistical interpretation of the discrepancies between theory and experiment which enable a subsequent statistical error propagation and correlation analysis, Comment: 4 pages. Conference Proceedings. 21st International Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics (FB21)

The experimental data from quasielastic electron scattering from $^{12}$C are reanalyzed in terms of a new scaling variable suggested by the interacting relativistic Fermi gas with scalar and vector interactions, which is known to generate a relativistic effective mass for the interacting nucleons. By choosing a mean value of this relativistic effective mass $m_N^* =0.8 m_N$, we observe that most of the data fall inside a region around the inverse parabola-shaped universal scaling function of the relativistic Fermi gas. This suggests a method to select the subset of data that highlight the quasielastic region, about two thirds of the total 2,500 data. Regardless of the momentum and energy transfer, this method automatically excludes the data that are not dominated by the quasielastic process. The resulting band of data reflects deviations from the perfect universality, and can be used to characterize experimentally the quasielastic peak, despite the manifest scaling violation. Moreover we show that the spread of the data around the scaling function can be interpreted as genuine fluctuations of the effective mass $M^* \equiv m^*_N/m_N \sim 0.8 \pm 0.1$. Applying the same procedure we transport the scaling quasielastic band into a theoretical prediction band for neutrino scattering cross section that is compatible with the recent measurements and slightly more accurate., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Updated version as accepted for publication. Small updates to text, corrected some errors in equations and figure labels