Unified approach to electron and neutrino elastic scattering off nuclei with an application to the study of the axial structure

Abstract

We show a relationship between elastic electron scattering observables and the elastic neutrino cross section that provides a straightforward determination of the latter from experimental data of the former and relates their uncertainties. An illustration of this procedure is presented using a Hartree-Fock mean field for the nuclear structure of a set of even-even nuclear targets, using the spectra of the neutrinos produced in pion decay at rest. We also analyze the prospects for measuring the incoherent axial contribution to the neutrino elastic scattering in odd targets.