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Impact of cross-section uncertainties on supernova neutrino spectral parameter fitting in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment
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Impact of cross-section uncertainties on supernova neutrino spectral parameter fitting in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

DUNE Collaboration, A. Abed Abud, B Abi, R Acciarri, M. A Acero, M. R Adames, G Adamov, M Adamowski, D Adams, M Adinolfi, …
arXiv.org
29 Mar 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2303.17007
url
https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.17007View
Preprint (Author's original)arXiv.org - Non-exclusive license to distribute,  Open

Abstract

Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment Physics - High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Physics - Nuclear Theory
A primary goal of the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is to measure the$\mathcal{O}(10)$MeV neutrinos produced by a Galactic core-collapse supernova if one should occur during the lifetime of the experiment. The liquid-argon-based detectors planned for DUNE are expected to be uniquely sensitive to the$\nu_e$component of the supernova flux, enabling a wide variety of physics and astrophysics measurements. A key requirement for a correct interpretation of these measurements is a good understanding of the energy-dependent total cross section$\sigma(E_\nu)$for charged-current$\nu_e$absorption on argon. In the context of a simulated extraction of supernova$\nu_e$spectral parameters from a toy analysis, we investigate the impact of$\sigma(E_\nu)$modeling uncertainties on DUNE's supernova neutrino physics sensitivity for the first time. We find that the currently large theoretical uncertainties on$\sigma(E_\nu)$must be substantially reduced before the$\nu_e$flux parameters can be extracted reliably: in the absence of external constraints, a measurement of the integrated neutrino luminosity with less than 10\% bias with DUNE requires$\sigma(E_\nu)$to be known to about 5%. The neutrino spectral shape parameters can be known to better than 10% for a 20% uncertainty on the cross-section scale, although they will be sensitive to uncertainties on the shape of$\sigma(E_\nu)$ . A direct measurement of low-energy$\nu_e$ -argon scattering would be invaluable for improving the theoretical precision to the needed level.

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