Identifying neutrinos and antineutrinos in neutral-current scattering reactions

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Aug 20;93(8):082501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.082501. Epub 2004 Aug 16.

Abstract

We study neutrino-induced nucleon knockout from nuclei. Expressions for the induced polarization are derived within the framework of the independent-nucleon model and the nonrelativistic plane-wave approximation. Large dissimilarities in the nucleon polarization asymmetries are observed between neutrino- and antineutrino-induced processes. These asymmetries represent a potential way to distinguish between neutrinos and antineutrinos in neutral-current neutrino scattering on nuclei. We discuss astrophysical applications of these polarization asymmetries. Our findings are illustrated for neutrino scattering on 16O and 208P b.