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

• Published in: arXiv.org 2023-07
• Main Authors: Acciarri, R, Adamowski, M, Aduszkiewicz, A, Aimard, B, Akbar, F, Alrashed, M, Anderson, J, Antoshkin, A, Berner, R M, A Betancur Rodríguez, Chattopadhyay, S, Chowdhury, B, Convery, M, David, Q, De Bonis, I, de Gouvêa, A, Densham, C, Dyshkant, A S, Earle, A, Falcone, A, Filip, P, Fiorillo, G, Fiorini, M, Fuess, S, Furic, I K, Gamberini, E, Giangiacomi, N, Gonzalez-Lopez, M, Goudeau, J, Goudzovski, E, Groetschla, F T, Haaf, K, Hamilton, P, Harris, D A, Hays, J, Higuera, A, Hoppe, E, Jang, W, Ketchum, W, Kim, J, Kosc, T, Kwak, D, Lantwin, O, Y Li, LoSecco, J M, X -G Lu, Luo, X, Maalmi, J, Madigan, P, Maloney, J A, Manyam, V N, Marciano, W, Mazza, R, Mishra, S R, Mouster, G, Muir, A, Nayak, N, Nelson, M, Olshevskiy, A, Ott, J, Palamara, O, Pawloski, G, Pec, V, Pessina, G, Poonthottathil, N, Pordes, S, Pozzato, M, Pratt, C, Prest, M, Rakotondravohitra, L, Ritchie-Yates, A, Ritter, S, Rivera, R, J Rodriguez Rondon, Rosier, P, Rubbia, C, Schlabach, P, Shchablo, K, Sinclair, J, Singh, P, Smolik, J, Soleti, S R, Solomey, N, Sorel, M, Stepanova, A, Stuart, A, Sutera, C M, Tayloe, R, Testera, G, Torbunov, D, Tortorici, F, Trilov, S, Vallazza, E, D Vargas Oliva, Wascko, M O, Watson, A, Whilhelmi, J, Yang, G, Zeller, G P, Zutshi, V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Argon; Cross-sections; Luminosity; Neutrinos; Parameters; Supernovae; Uncertainty
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2303.17007

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.