Influence of short-range correlations in neutrino-nucleus scattering

Background: Nuclear short-range correlations (SRCs) are corrections to mean-field wave functions connected with the short-distance behavior of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. These SRCs provide corrections to lepton-nucleus cross sections as computed in the impulse approximation (IA). Purpose: We want to investigate the influence of SRCs on the one-nucleon (1N) and two-nucleon (2N) knockout channels for muon-neutrino induced processes on a C-12 target at energies relevant for contemporary measurements. Method: The model adopted in this work corrects the impulse approximation for SRCs by shifting the complexity induced by the SRCs from the wave functions to the operators. Due to the local character of the SRCs, it is argued that the expansion of these operators can be truncated at a low order. Results: The model is compared with electron-scattering data, and two-particle two-hole responses are presented for neutrino scattering. The contributions from the vector and axial-vector parts of the nuclear current as well as the central, tensor, and spin-isospin parts of the SRCs are studied. Conclusions: Nuclear SRCs affect the 1N knockout channel and give rise to 2N knockout. The exclusive neutrino-induced 2N knockout cross section of SRC pairs is shown and the 2N knockout contribution to the QE signal is calculated. The strength occurs as a broad background which extends into the dip region.