Electron-induced single-pion production to extract the neutron spectral function of argon 40

Liquid argon serves as detector material in several present and future accelerator-based neutrino experiments, such as MicroBooNE, SBND, ICARUS [1] and DUNE [2].

Therefor, precise information about the structure of the target nucleus—that is, the binding energies and momentum distributions of the nucleons—is crucial for accurate modeling of neutrino–nucleus cross sections. This is especially important if the goal is to predict the correct energy balance of the reaction and thereby minimize systematic errors in the reconstruction of the neutrino energy.

In this communication, we discuss possible experimental setups that could help shed light on the structure of protons and neutrons in argon-40. The simulations are based on the capabilities of the MAMI (Mainz, Germany) [3] and CLAS (JLab, USA) [4] facilities.

[1] M. Antonello et al. (LAr1-ND, ICARUS-WA104, MicroBooNE), (2015)
[2] R. Acciarri et al. (DUNE), (2016), arXiv:1601.05471
[3] Nucl.Instrum.Meth.A 403 (1998) 263-301, https://wwwa1.kph.uni-mainz.de/optical-properties-of-the-a1-spectrometers/
[4] Nucl.Instrum.Meth.A 503 (2003) 513-553, https://www.jlab.org/physics/hall-b/clas