Next-generation neutrino oscillation experiments DUNE and Hyper-Kamiokande will study neutrino interactions with unprecedented detail to shed light on the poorly understood beyond-Standard-Model interactions giving rise to neutrino masses and mixing. Maximizing the discovery potential of these and other neutrino experiments will require accurate theoretical descriptions of neutrino-nucleus scattering that are rooted in a Standard Model description of nuclei as strongly interacting systems of quarks and gluons. Lattice QCD calculations of nucleon and few-nucleon systems, in conjunction with nuclear many-body calculations of effective theories of nuclei, provide a road towards achieving precise and accurate neutrino-nucleus cross section predictions. Quantifying the precision needs of neutrino physics for few-nucleon observables accessible from lattice QCD is an important first step on this road. I will report on such uncertainty quantification efforts for neutrino-carbon scattering relevant for T2K and MiniBooNE. I will further discuss the outlook of lattice QCD for neutrino physics and challenges arising from the sign problem and the dense spectra of multi-particle states that generically arise in lattice QCD simulations of nucleon-pion and multi-nucleon systems.
Host: Yuan Xin (yuan.xin@yale.edu)