Data-driven model validation for neutrino-nucleus cross section measurements
Abstract
Neutrino-nucleus cross section measurements are needed to improve interaction modeling to meet the precision needs of neutrino experiments in efforts to measure oscillation parameters and search for physics beyond the Standard Model. We review the difficulties associated with modeling neutrino-nucleus interactions that lead to a dependence on event generators in oscillation analyses and cross section measurements alike. We then describe data-driven model validation techniques intended to address this model dependence. The method relies on utilizing various goodness-of-fit tests and the correlations between different observables and channels to probe the model for defects in the phase space relevant for the desired analysis. These techniques shed light on relevant mis-modeling, allowing it to be detected before it begins to bias the cross section results. We compare more commonly used model validation methods which directly validate the model against alternative ones to these data-driven techniques and show their efficacy with fake data studies. These studies demonstrate that employing data-driven model validation in cross section measurements represents a reliable strategy to produce robust results that will stimulate the desired improvements to interaction modeling.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2411.03280,
title = {Data-driven model validation for neutrino-nucleus cross section measurements},
author = {MicroBooNE collaboration and P. Abratenko and O. Alterkait and D. Andrade Aldana and L. Arellano and J. Asaadi and A. Ashkenazi and S. Balasubramanian and B. Baller and A. Barnard and G. Barr and D. Barrow and J. Barrow and V. Basque and J. Bateman and O. Benevides Rodrigues and S. Berkman and A. Bhanderi and A. Bhat and M. Bhattacharya and M. Bishai and A. Blake and B. Bogart and T. Bolton and M. B. Brunetti and L. Camilleri and Y. Cao and D. Caratelli and F. Cavanna and G. Cerati and A. Chappell and Y. Chen and J. M. Conrad and M. Convery and L. Cooper-Troendle and J. I. Crespo-Anadon and R. Cross and M. Del Tutto and S. R. Dennis and P. Detje and R. Diurba and Z. Djurcic and K. Duffy and S. Dytman and B. Eberly and P. Englezos and A. Ereditato and J. J. Evans and C. Fang and B. T. Fleming and W. Foreman and D. Franco and A. P. Furmanski and F. Gao and D. Garcia-Gamez and S. Gardiner and G. Ge and S. Gollapinni and E. Gramellini and P. Green and H. Greenlee and L. Gu and W. Gu and R. Guenette and P. Guzowski and L. Hagaman and M. D. Handley and O. Hen and C. Hilgenberg and G. A. Horton-Smith and Z. Imani and B. Irwin and M. S. Ismail and C. James and X. Ji and J. H. Jo and R. A. Johnson and Y. J. Jwa and D. Kalra and G. Karagiorgi and W. Ketchum and M. Kirby and T. Kobilarcik and N. Lane and J. -Y. Li and Y. Li and K. Lin and B. R. Littlejohn and L. Liu and W. C. Louis and X. Luo and T. Mahmud and C. Mariani and D. Marsden and J. Marshall and N. Martinez and D. A. Martinez Caicedo and S. Martynenko and A. Mastbaum and I. Mawby and N. McConkey and V. Meddage and L. Mellet and J. Mendez and J. Micallef and K. Miller and K. Mistry and T. Mohayai and A. Mogan and M. Mooney and A. F. Moor and C. D. Moore and L. Mora Lepin and M. M. Moudgalya and S. Mulleria Babu and D. Naples and A. Navrer-Agasson and N. Nayak and M. Nebot-Guinot and C. Nguyen and J. Nowak and N. Oza and O. Palamara and N. Pallat and V. Paolone and A. Papadopoulou and V. Papavassiliou and H. Parkinson and S. F. Pate and N. Patel and Z. Pavlovic and E. Piasetzky and K. Pletcher and I. Pophale and X. Qian and J. L. Raaf and V. Radeka and A. Rafique and M. Reggiani-Guzzo and L. Ren and L. Rochester and J. Rodriguez Rondon and M. Rosenberg and M. Ross-Lonergan and I. Safa and D. W. Schmitz and A. Schukraft and W. Seligman and M. H. Shaevitz and R. Sharankova and J. Shi and E. L. Snider and M. Soderberg and S. Soldner-Rembold and J. Spitz and M. Stancari and J. St. John and T. Strauss and A. M. Szelc and N. Taniuchi and K. Terao and C. Thorpe and D. Torbunov and D. Totani and M. Toups and A. Trettin and Y. -T. Tsai and J. Tyler and M. A. Uchida and T. Usher and B. Viren and J. Wang and M. Weber and H. Wei and A. J. White and S. Wolbers and T. Wongjirad and M. Wospakrik and K. Wresilo and W. Wu and E. Yandel and T. Yang and L. E. Yates and H. W. Yu and G. P. Zeller and J. Zennamo and C. Zhang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.03280},
year = {2025}
}