Neutrino-nucleus cross section in the impulse approximation regime

In the impulse approximation regime the nuclear response to a weakly interacting probe can be written in terms of the measured nucleon structure fuctions and the target spectral function, yielding the energy and momentum distribution of the constituent nucleons. We discuss a calculation of charged current neutrino-oxygen interactions in the quasielastic channel, carried out within nuclear many body theory. The proposed approach, extensively and successfully employed in the analysys of electron-nucleus scattering data, allows for a parameter free prediction of the neutrino-nucleus cross section, whose quantitative understanding will be critical to the analysis of the next genaration of high precision neutrino oscillation experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 Figs. Presented in the poster session at NUINT04. To be published in the Proceeding

Electron- and neutrino-nucleus scattering

I review the main features of the nuclear response extracted from electron scattering data. The emerging picture clearly shows that the shell model does not provide a fully quantitative description of nuclear dynamics. On the other hand, many body approaches in which correlation effetcs are explicitely taken into account lead to a satisfactory account of electron scattering observables. The possibility of exploiting the knowledge acquired from electron scattering to reduce the systematic uncertainty of neutrino oscillation experiments is outlined.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Invited talk at NUINT04. To be published in the Proceedings (Nucl. Phys. B Proc. Suppl.

Hadron Multiplicity in Semi-Inclusive Lepton-Nucleon and Lepton-Nucleus Scattering

We discuss multi-hadron production in both inelastic neutrino-nucleon interactions in the current fragmentation region and neutrino-nucleus collisions in the target fragmentation region. Our analysis, carried out within the framework of the quark-gluon string model, is mainly focused on the difference between these two processes. We show that the $Q^2$ dependence of hadron multiplicity in the current and target fragmentation regions is indeed completely different. The study of inelastic $\nu-A$ scattering in the target fragmentation region also provides new information on nuclear structure at small $N-N$ distances. The results of the proposed approach are in satisfactory agreement with the data recently obtained at CERN by the NOMAD Collaboration.Comment: Talk delivered a the Fourth International Conference on Perspectives in Hadronic Physics (ICTP, Trieste, Italy, May 2003). To be published in the Proceedings (EPJA

Final state interactions in the electroweak nuclear response

I review the description of the electroweak nuclear response at large momentum transfer within nonrelativistic many-body theory. Special consideration is given to the effects of final state interactions, which are known to be large in both inclusive and semi-inclusive processes. The results of theoretical calculations of electron-nucleus scattering observables are compared to the data, and the generalization to charged current neutrino-nucleus interactions is discussed.Comment: Invited talk at NUINT05. To be published in Nucl. Phys. B Proceedings Supplemen

Neutron star matter equation of state and gravitational wave emission

The EOS of strongly interacting matter at densities ten to fifteen orders of magnitude larger than the typical density of terrestrial macroscopic objects determines a number of neutron star properties, including the pattern of gravitational waves emitted following the excitation of nonradial oscillation modes. This paper reviews some of the approaches employed to model neutron star matter, as well as the prospects for obtaining new insights from the experimental study of gravitational waves emitted by neutron stars.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. To be published as a Brief Review in Modern Physics Letters

Inclusive quasi-elastic electron-nucleus scattering

This article presents a review of the field of inclusive quasi-elastic electron-nucleus scattering. It discusses the approach used to measure the data and includes a compilation of data available in numerical form. The theoretical approaches used to interpret the data are presented. A number of results obtained from the comparison between experiment and calculation are then reviewed. The analogies and differences to other fields of physics exploiting quasi-elastic scattering from composite systems are pointed out.Comment: Accepted for publication in Reviews of Modern Physic

Microscopic Study of 1S0{}^1{S_0} Superfluidity in Dilute Neutron Matter

Singlet $S$-wave superfluidity of dilute neutron matter is studied within the correlated BCS method, which takes into account both pairing and short-range correlations. First, the equation of state (EOS) of normal neutron matter is calculated within the Correlated Basis Function (CBF) method in lowest cluster order using the ${}^1{S_0}$ and ${}^3P$ components of the Argonne $V_{18}$ potential, assuming trial Jastrow-type correlation functions. The ${}^1{S_0}$ superfluid gap is then calculated with the corresponding component of the Argonne $V_{18}$ potential and the optimally determined correlation functions. The dependence of our results on the chosen forms for the correlation functions is studied, and the role of the $P$-wave channel is investigated. Where comparison is meaningful, the values obtained for the ${}^1{S_0}$ gap within this simplified scheme are consistent with the results of similar and more elaborate microscopic methods.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Scaling in many-body systems and proton structure function

The observation of scaling in processes in which a weakly interacting probe delivers large momentum ${\bf q}$ to a many-body system simply reflects the dominance of incoherent scattering off target constituents. While a suitably defined scaling function may provide rich information on the internal dynamics of the target, in general its extraction from the measured cross section requires careful consideration of the nature of the interaction driving the scattering process. The analysis of deep inelastic electron-proton scattering in the target rest frame within standard many-body theory naturally leads to the emergence of a scaling function that, unlike the commonly used structure functions $F_1$ and $F_2$, can be directly identified with the intrinsic proton response.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Proceedings of the 11th Conference on Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories, Manchester, UK, July 9-13 200