[Background] A quantitative understanding of neutrino interactions with nuclei is needed for precision era neutrino long baseline experiments (MINOS, NOvA, DUNE) which all use nuclear targets. Pion production is the dominant reaction channel at the energies of these experiments. [Purpose] Investigate the influence of nuclear effects on neutrino-induced pion production cross sections and compare predictions for pion-production with available data. [Method] The Giessen Boltzmann--Uehling--Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) model is used for the description of all incohrent channels in neutrino-nucleus reactions. [Results] Differential cross sections for charged and neutral pion production for the MINER$ν$A neutrino and antineutrino flux are calculated. An estimate for the coherent cross section is obtained from a comparison of data with theoretical results. The invariant mass ($W$) distribution of the $Δ$ resonances produced is analyzed. [Conclusions] Final state interactions affect the pion kinetic energy spectra significantly. The data for charged pion production at MINER$ν$A are compatible with the results of calculations using elementary data taken from an old Argonne National Laboratory experiment. Remaining differences can be attributed to coherent production; the data for antineutrino induced neutral pion production, where no coherent contribution is present, are reproduced quite well. In contrast, the MiniBooNE data, taken at a lower energy, are consistently higher than the theoretical description. The analysis of $W$-distributions shows that experimental cuts on this quantity lead to shape distortions for nuclear targets.
Using a pair of the lightest mirror nuclei, $^3$He and $^3$H, we study the effect of the medium modification of pion fields on the flavor non-singlet structure function. The change of the pion fields leads to an enhancement of the flavor asymmetry of the antiquark distributions in a nucleus.
We compare calculations for the production of charged pions by pion or proton beams off nuclei calculated within our coupled channel transport model (GiBUU) with recent data of the HARP collaboration for beam energies from 3 up to 13 GeV. Predictions for the 30 GeV data for pions and kaons from the NA61/SHINE experiment are included.
It is pointed out that so far all theoretical estimates of coherent pion production off nuclei induced by neutrinos rely on the 'local approximation' well known in photonuclear physics. The effects of dropping this approximation are discussed. It is found that in a plane wave approximation for the pion the local approximation overestimates the coherent neutrino-induced pion production on nuclei.
We present an overview of our efforts to analyze pion-nucleon elastic scattering data, along with data from related photo- and electroproduction reactions, in order to study the baryon spectrum. We then focus on the Delta(1232) resonance. Fits to pion photo- and electroproduction data have been used to extract values for the R_EM = E2/M1 and R_SM = S2/M1 ratios as functions of Q^2. These results are compared to other recent determinations.
We have developed a dynamical model for a unified description of the pion-nucleus scattering and photo- and neutrino-induced coherent pion production on nuclei. Our approach is based on a combined use of the Sato-Lee model for the electroweak pion production on a single nucleon and the Delta-hole model of pion-nucleus scattering. Numerical calculations are carried out for the case of the C12 target. After testing our model with the use of the pion photo-production data, we confront our predictions of the neutrino-induced coherent pion production reactions with the recent data from K2K and Mini…
We demonstrate that the Dubna-Mainz-Taipei (DMT) meson-exchange dynamical model, which starts from an effective chiral Lagrangian, for pion photoproduction provides an excellent and economic framework to describe both the pi^0 threshold production and the Delta deformation, two features dictated by chiral dynamics.
Based on a Relativistic Boltzmann-Uehling- Uhlenbeck transport model, proton and $^{3}$He induced reactions on $^{197}$Au target at beam energies of 2.8, 5, 10 and 16.587 GeV/nucleon are studied. It is found that compared with proton induced reactions, $^{3}$He induced reactions give larger cross sections of pion production, about 5 times those of the proton induced reactions. And more importantly, pion production from $^{3}$He induced reaction is more inclined to low-angle emission. Neutrino production via positively charged pion is also discussed accordingly.
Bremsstrahlung of photons emitted during the scattering of $π^{+}$-mesons off nuclei is studied for the first time. Role of interactions between $π^{+}$-mesons and nuclei in the formation of the bremsstrahlung emission is analyzed in details. We discover essential contribution of emitted photons from nuclear part of Johnson-Satchler potential to the full spectrum, in contrast to the optical Woods-Saxon potential. We observe unusual essential influence of the nuclear part of both potentials on the spectrum at high photon energies. This phenomenon opens a new experimental way to study and check …
A double-scattering reaction $π^+ + d\to p + p + η$, where an $η$ meson is rescattered, may provide new information on the $ηN\to ηN$ scattering. An idea to measure this reaction is proposed. Moreover, experimental search for $η$-mesic nuclei by the same $(π, N)$ reaction is discussed.
We investigate the reaction $π^- p \to π^- J/ψp$ via the open-charm hadron rescattering diagrams. Due to the presence of the triangle singularity (TS) in the rescattering amplitudes, the TS peaks can simulate the pentaquark-like resonances arising in the $J/ψp$ invariant mass distributions, which may bring ambiguities on our understanding of the nature of the exotic states. Searching for the heavy pentaquark in different processes may help us to clarify the ambiguities, because of the highly process-dependent characteristic of the TS mechanism.
We analize two reactions: the electroproduction at small x and the Drell-Yan production by protons on nuclei. We show that nuclear shadowing in electroproduction is larger if the virtuality of inter- mediate hadrons is properly taken into account. In the Drell-Yan production, initial state interactions of fast partons are included. With this input, the excess pion contribution improves the description of data for both reactions.
The centrality dependence of rapidity distributions of pions in Pb+Pb reactions can be understood by imposing local energy-momentum conservation in the longitudinal "fire-streaks" of excited matter. With no tuning nor adjustment to the experimental data, the rapidity distribution of pions produced by the fire-streak which we obtained from Pb+Pb collisions reproduces the shape of the experimental pion rapidity distribution in p+p interactions, measured by the NA49 Collaboration at the same energy. The observed difference in the absolute normalization of this distribution can be explained by the…
At low energies the particle-hole (ph) part of the pionic susceptibility in isospin-symmetric nuclear matter is known to behave very differently from the susceptibility in finite nuclei due to the presence of an energy gap in the ph excitation spectrum. In this note we show that for charged pions in N > Z nuclei the changes due to the gap are very similar to those in the symmetric case, except at very low momenta, where a qualitatively different behavior is found.
We study the possible occurrence of surface pion condensation in finite nuclei in the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory. We are led to this conjecture due to the essential role of pions in few-body systems and the recent (p,n) experiments performed at RCNP for spin-isospin excitations of medium and heavy nuclei. We calculate explicitly various N=Z closed shell nuclei with finite pion mean field in the RMF framework and demonstrate the actual occurrence of surface pion condensation.
We analyse available experimental data on the total charged-current neutrino-nucleon and antineutrino-nucleon cross sections for quasielastic scattering and single-pion neutrinoproduction. Published results from the relevant experiments at ANL, BNL, FNAL, CERN, and IHEP are included dating from the end of sixties to the present day, covering muon neutrino and antineutrino beams on a variety of nuclear targets, with energies from the thresholds to about 350 GeV. The data are used to adjust the poorly known values of the axial masses.
We propose simple Monte Carlo method for calculating parton distribution in nuclei. The EMC effect is automatically included by means of two parameters, which characterize the change of nuclear pion field. Good agreement with experimental data in the broad range of variable x is obtained.
Threshold neutral pion photoproduction on light nuclei is studied in the framework of baryon chiral perturbation theory. We obtain a general formula for the electric dipole amplitude in the special case of neutral pion photoproduction on a nucleus. To third order in small momenta, the amplitude is a sum of 2- and 3-body interactions with no undetermined parameters. With reasonable input from the single nucleon sector, our result for neutral pion photoproduction on the deuteron is in agreement with experiment.
The nonlinear model of pionic condensate in nuclei by G. Preparata can be efficiently verified by investigation of the quasielastic knockout process of pions out of nuclei by high energy electrons. First, a momentum distribution (MD) of the collective pions has a bright maximum at q=0.3 Gev.Second the excitation spectrum of a recoil nucleus is concentrated at low energies E lesser than 1MeV. The results for the pion knockout from mesonic clouds of individual nucleons are absolutely different. The latter results are presented both for pion and rho-meson clouds localized on nucleons.
The $f_{1}(1420)$ productions via pion and kaon induced reactions on a proton target are investigated in an effective Lagrangian approach. Two treatments of the $t$-channel Born term, the Feynman model and the Regge model, are introduced to calculate the total and differential cross sections of the $π^{-}p\rightarrow f_{1}(1420)n$ and $K^{-}p\rightarrow f_{1}(1420)Λ$ reactions. The numerical results indicate that the experimental data of the total cross section of the $π^{-}p\rightarrow f_{1}(1420)n$ reaction can be reproduced in both the Feynman and the Regge models. Based on the parameters d…
We evaluate the contribution of pion-pion rescattering to the $p p \to p p π^+ π^-$ and $p \bar p \to p \bar p π^+ π^-$ reactions. We compare our results with the close-to-threshold experimental data. The pion-pion rescattering contribution is found there to be negligible. The predictions for future experiments with PANDA detector at High Energy Storage Ring (HESR) in GSI Darmstadt are presented. It is discussed how to cut off the dominant Roper resonance and double-$Δ$ excitation mechanisms leading to the $p p π^+ π^-$ channel in final state. Differential distributions in momentum transfers, …
We study the mass of a nucleon in a nucleus using a model recently introduced for a nucleon current with a pion cloud component. The method of QCD sum rules is used to determine the mass shifts for nucleons to first order in nuclear density in oxygen-16 and calcium-40, with the pion propagator determined by an optical potential for pion-nucleus scattering. Mass shifts due to the pionic contributions range from negligible in oxygen to -100 MeV in calcium at central nuclear density, with larger shifts in the nuclear surface. The consistency of this model with chiral perturbation theory is demons…
Recently, deeply bound pionic states were found experimentally in (d, $^3$He) reactions on $^{208}$Pb. They found an isolated peak structure in the bound region below the pion production threshold. We study theoretically these excitation functions in (d, $^3$He) reactions on $^{208}$Pb at T$_d$=600 MeV. We found very good agreement with the (d, $^3$He) excitation functions and could identify the underlying structures of the pionic states. We study the energy dependence of the (d, $^3$He) reactions and the change of the excitation functions with the incident energy.
We investigate the formation cross sections of the deeply bound pionic atoms on halo nuclei theoretically. We consider one-neutron pick-up (d,3He) reaction for the pionic atom formation and find that the formation rate is significantly increased by the existence of the halo neutron with long tail of the wave function. This enhancement is expected to increase the experimental feasibility for the formation of the deeply bound pionic states on beta-unstable nuclei.
We have calculated the effect of the inclusion of final state interactions on pion production from nuclei with incident pion beams. We find that the effect of absorption, along with geometric considerations, explains much of the enhancement at low invariant mass seen in recent data for invariant mass spectra with increasing atomic number. While the variation among nuclei is well reproduced for all charge states, the enhancement for the ratio for heavy nuclei to deuterium for the pi^+ pi^- final state is only partially understood.
We propose to use the recoilless (d,$^3$He) reaction to produce $η$-mesic nuclei. This reaction has been used to observe deeply bound pionic states and proven to be powerful recently. We calculate $η$-mesic bound states in the nucleus using an optical potential and their formation cross section with the Green function method. Then, we carefully check the experimental feasibility. We find that $η$-mesic nuclei can be observed experimentally using the (d,$^3$He) reaction. We also mention the possibility to study the formation of $ω$-mesic nuclei.
In these lectures I first explain, in a rather basic fashion, the construction of effective field theories. I then discuss some recent developments in the application of such theories to two- and three-nucleon systems.
The structure functions calculated in the Chiral bag model reproduce quite well, after appropriate perturbative evolution to large energy scales, the experimental data. We use these results to interpret the structure of the $EMC$ data as a quenching of the pion decay constant due to the in medium behavior of the nucleon. This explanation supports recent proposals of this phenomenon whose origin is the scale invariance of the $QCD$ lagrangian.
We review the Rein--Sehgal model and criticize its use for low energy neutrino induced coherent pion production. We have studied the validity of the main approximations implicit in that model, trying to compare with physical observables when that is possible and with microscopical calculations. Next, we have tried to elaborate a new improved model by removing the more problematic approximations, while keeping the model still reasonably simple. Last, we have discussed the limitations intrinsic to any approach based on the partial conservation of the axial current hypothesis. In particular, we h…
We study $(n,d)$ and (d,$^3$He) reactions on $^{208}Pb$ leading to deeply bound pionic atoms with one neutron hole being left. We develop a theoretical model to calculate cross sections of deeply bound pionic atoms and quasi-elastic pion production. The results are compared with data which have been obtained so far. We show that the theoretical model describes the data of both reactions well.
Some of the recent progress in the physics of pion production induced by neutrinos on nucleons and nuclei is reviewed from a theoretical perspective. The importance of Watson's theorem to reconcile ANL and BNL data with the off-diagonal Goldberger-Treiman relation for the $Δ(1232)$ is discussed. The disagreement between MiniBooNE data and theoretical calculations is presented in the light of the new MINERvA data. The coherent pion production data on $^{12}$C obtained by MINERvA are also compared to different microscopic and PCAC models.
A resonance model for two-pion production in the pion-nucleon reaction is developed that includes information obtained in the analysis of pion-nucleon scattering in a meson-exchange model. The baryonic resonances Delta(1232), N*(1440), N*(1520), N*(1535), and N*(1650) are included. The model reproduces the total cross sections up to kinetic energies of the incident pion of 350 MeV and obtains the shapes of the differential cross sections in reasonable agreement with the data.
We describe the double charge exchange (DCX) reaction of pions with different nuclear targets at incident kinetic energies of 120-180 MeV within the GiBUU transport framework. The DCX process is highly sensitive to details of the interactions of pions with the nuclear medium and, therefore, represents a major benchmark for any model of pion scattering off nuclei at low and intermediate energies. We achieve a good quantitative agreement with the extensive data set obtained at LAMPF. Furthermore, we present first results on electron scattering off nuclei for beam energies of 700-1500 MeV and vir…
We study the pion-induced inclusive $Λ(1520)$ hyperon production from nuclei near threshold within a nuclear spectral function approach accounting for incoherent primary $π^-$ meson--proton ${π^-}p \to K^0Λ(1520)$ production processes. We calculate the absolute differential and total cross sections for the production of $Λ(1520)$ hyperons off carbon and tungsten nuclei at laboratory angles of 0$^{\circ}$--10$^{\circ}$, 10$^{\circ}$--45$^{\circ}$ and 45$^{\circ}$--85$^{\circ}$ by $π^-$ mesons with momentum of 1.7 GeV/c as well as their relative (transparency ratio) differential and integral yie…
We calculate the cross sections for inclusive one-pion, two-pion and eta photoproduction in nuclei in the photon energy range from 300 MeV to 900 MeV within the framework of a semi-classical BUU transport model. Our results are compared with existing experimental data and discussed with respect to a calculation of the total photoabsorption cross section.
We present a theory of neutrino interactions with nuclei aimed at the description of the partial cross-sections, namely quasi-elastic and multi-nucleon emission, coherent and incoherent single pion production. For this purpose, we use the theory of nuclear responses treated in the random phase approximation, which allows a unified description of these channels. It is particularly suited for the coherent pion production where collective effects are important whereas they are moderate in the other channels. We also study the evolution of the neutrino cross-sections with the mass number from carb…
We have developed a model for neutrino-induced coherent pion production off nuclei in the energy regime of interest for present and forthcoming neutrino oscillation experiments. It is based on a microscopic model for pion production off the nucleon that, besides the dominant Delta pole contribution, takes into account the effect of background terms required by chiral symmetry. Moreover, the model uses a reduced nucleon-to-Delta resonance axial coupling, which leads to coherent pion production cross sections around a factor two smaller than most of the previous theoretical estimates. In the coh…
We compute the medium-mass nuclei $^{16}$O and $^{40}$Ca using pionless effective field theory (EFT) at next-to-leading order (NLO). The low-energy coefficients of the EFT Hamiltonian are adjusted to experimantal data for nuclei with mass numbers $A=2$ and $3$, or alternatively to results from lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at an unphysical pion mass of 806 MeV. The EFT is implemented through a discrete variable representation in the harmonic oscillator basis. This approach ensures rapid convergence with respect to the size of the model space and facilitates the computation of medium-mas…
All available theoretical estimates of neutrino-induced coherent pion production rely on the 'local approximation' for the Delta propagator. The validity of this approximation is scrutinized. It is found that the local approximation overestimates the neutrino-induced coherent pion production on nuclei significantly, by up to 100%.
We introduce the chiral symmetry in the description of finite nuclei with the hope to unify the hadron and nuclear physics. This trial becomes possible by introducing finite pion mean field, which contributes largely to enhance the spin-orbit splitting so as to provide the j-j magic number. We discuss the qualitative consequence of the finite pion mean field for various observables.
The binding energies of the deeply bound 1s and 2p states in pionic atoms of $^{207}$Pb, recently established experimentally in the $^{208}$Pb(d,$^3$He) reaction, have been used by several groups to derive the pion effective mass in nuclear matter. We show that these binding energies are fully consistent with `normal' pionic atoms and that the real part of the pion-nucleus potential at the center of $^{207}$Pb is 28$\pm$3 MeV and not 20 MeV as suggested previously.
DWIA calculations of Lambda-hypernuclear production rates in stopped K- reactions on several p-shell targets used recently in experiments by the FINUDA Collaboration are reported. Chirally motivated K- + N -> pion + Lambda in-medium transition amplitudes are employed and the sensitivity of the calculated rates to the initial K- atomic wavefunctions and final pion distorted waves is studied. The calculated rates are compared with measured rates, wherever available, confirming earlier observations that (i) the calculated rates are generally lower than the measured rates, and (ii) the deeper the …
The charged current pion production induced by neutrinos in $^{12}{C}$, $^{16}{O}$ and $^{56}{Fe}$ nuclei has been studied. The calculations have been done for the coherent as well as the incoherent processes assuming $Δ$ dominance and take into account the effect of Pauli blocking, Fermi motion and the renormalization of $Δ$ in the nuclear medium. The pion absorption effects have also been taken into account.
Within the multiple scattering formulation, the incoherent pion production in neutrino-deuteron reactions at energies near the $Δ(1232)$ resonance is investigated. The calculations include an impulse term and one-loop contributions from nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) and pion-nucleon ($πN$) final state interactions. The input amplitudes of $πN$ scattering and electroweak pion production reaction on nucleon are generated from a dynamical model which describes very extensive data of $πN$ scattering and both the electromagnetic and the weak pion production reactions on the nucleon. The $NN$ scattering am…
The remarkable observations in the pion induced and charge exchange reactions on a nucleus are the significant shift and broadening of the $Δ(1232)$-peak relative to free pion nucleon scattering. For the forward going massless leptons, the weak process $(ν_l,l)$ on a nucleon, according to Adler's partially conserved axial current theorem, is connected to the pion nucleon scattering. This mechanism is also applicable to the nucleus. Therefore, the modification of the $Δ$-peak in a nucleus can be seen in the $(ν_l,l)$ reaction since it is connected to the pion nucleus scattering. To investigate …
We study the incoherent neutrinoproduction of photons and pions with neutrino energy E_ν $\leqslant$ 0.5 GeV. These processes are relevant to the background analysis in neutrino-oscillation experiments, for example MiniBooNE [A. A. Aquilar-Arevalo \textit{et al.} (MiniBooNE Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 032301(2008)]. The calculations are carried out using a Lorentz-covariant effective field theory (EFT) which contains nucleons, pions, the Delta (1232) ($Δ$ s), isoscalar scalar ($σ$) and vector ($ω$) fields, and isovector vector ($ρ$) fields, and has SU(2)_{L} $\otimes$ SU(2)_{R} chira…
We investigate decay and production of neutral pions in strong magnetic fields. In the presence of strong magnetic fields, transition between a neutral pion and a virtual photon becomes possible through the triangle diagram relevant for the chiral anomaly. We find that the decay mode of a neutral pion into two photons cannot persist in the dominant mode in strong magnetic fields, and that decay into a dilepton instead dominates over the other modes. We also investigate the effects of magnetic fields on prompt virtual photons created in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. There is no anisot…
The question whether there is a pion transparency in 500 MeV $C(π, π^{'})$ scatterings is studied using a semiclassical, hadronic transport model. The double differential cross sections of this reaction measured at LAMPF can be largely accounted for, if one uses energy-dependent, anisotropic angular distributions which are fitted to pion-nucleon scattering data for the decay of $Δ(1232)$ and $N^*(1440)$ resonances. The remaining discrepancy between the data and the calculation sets a limit on effects of more exotic processes.
The dynamical model of pion electroproduction has been extended to investigate the weak pion production reactions. The predicted cross sections of neutrino-induced pion production reactions are in good agreement with the existing data. We show that the renormalized(dressed) axial N-$Δ$ form factor contains large dynamical pion cloud effects and this renormalization effects are crucial in getting agreement with the data. We conclude that the N-$Δ$ transitions predicted by the constituent quark model are consistent with the existing neutrino induced pion production data in the $Δ$ region.
We have studied the pion^{-} capture in nuclei leading to two photons, using improved many body methods which have been tested with success in one photon pion^{-} radiative capture, muon^{-} capture and neutrino scattering. The qualitative features of the experimental data are reproduced but there are still some disagreement at small relative photon angles. The reaction is a potential source of information on details of the gamma-gamma-pion-pion vertex where chiral corrections can be relevant. New and more precise experiments are planned which make calculations like the present one relevant an…
In this talk we cover several issues concerning pion production. The first one is the p p ----> p p pi^0 reaction where an alternative explanation based on the off shell extrapolation of the pi N amplitude is offered. A recent model for the gamma N ----> pi pi N reaction is presented and a new kind of exchange current is constructed from it which allows one to address problems like double Delta photoproduction from the deuteron. Finally the (gamma, pi pi) reaction in nuclei is studied and shown to be highly sensitive to the renormalization of the pions in nuclei.
We describe a model for pion production off nucleons and coherent pions from nuclei induced by neutrinos in the 1 GeV energy regime. Besides the dominant Delta pole contribution, it takes into account the effect of background terms required by chiral symmetry. Moreover, the model uses a reduced nucleon-to-Delta resonance axial coupling, which leads to coherent pion production cross sections around a factor two smaller than most of the previous theoretical estimates. Nuclear effects like medium corrections on the Delta propagator and final pion distortion are included.
We present a relativistic model for electroweak pion production from nuclei, focusing on the $Δ$ and the second resonance region. Bound states are derived in the Hartree approximation to the $σ-ω$ Walecka model. Final-state interactions of the outgoing pion and nucleon are described in a factorized way by means of a relativistic extension of the Glauber model. Our formalism allows a detailed study of neutrino pion production through $Q^2$, $W$, energy, angle and out-of-plane distributions.
We review recent progress in our understanding of elastic and inelastic pion reactions on two nucleon systems from the point of view of effective field theory. The discussion includes pion-deuteron scattering, gamma d to pi-nn, and NN to NNpi. At the end some remarks are made on strangeness production reactions.
We study the formation of deeply bound pionic atoms in the (d,3He) reactions theoretically and show the energy spectra of the emitted 3He at finite angles, which are expected to be observed experimentally. We find that the different combinations of the pion-bound and neutron-hole states dominate the spectra at different scattering angles because of the matching condition of the reaction. We conclude that the observation of the (d,3He) reaction at finite angles will provide the systematic information of the pionic bound states in each nucleus and will help to develop the study of the pion prope…
We give a brief review on the important role of the pion-exchange interaction characterized by the strong tensor force. In order to illustrate the role of the pion, we have proposed a new mean field theory with the charge and parity mixing, by which the pion is treated explicitly in the mean field framework. We introduce the essence of the new mean field theory and illustrate the calculated results of the pion (tensor force) correlation by taking the alpha particle as an example.
For detailed explanation of the experimental results of lepton production cross section in hadronic collisions such as nucleon-nucleon or nucleon-nuclei, it is of great importance to use quarks and sea quarks distribution function inside free and bound nucleons. In this paper the role of pion cloud inside the nucleus in the structure function of Cu and Pt nuclei and the EMC ratio of these nuclei were investigated by using harmonic oscillator model.
