Improving Neutrino Oscillation Measurements through Event Classification
This addresses reconstruction-driven systematics for neutrino physics experiments, offering a practical improvement but is incremental in method.
The paper tackled the problem of precise neutrino energy reconstruction in long-baseline oscillation experiments by classifying events based on interaction type before reconstruction, resulting in improved accuracy and sensitivity in simulated DUNE analyses.
Precise neutrino energy reconstruction is essential for next-generation long-baseline oscillation experiments, yet current methods remain limited by large uncertainties in neutrino-nucleus interaction modeling. Even so, it is well established that different interaction channels produce systematically varying amounts of missing energy and therefore yield different reconstruction performance--information that standard calorimetric approaches do not exploit. We introduce a strategy that incorporates this structure by classifying events according to their underlying interaction type prior to energy reconstruction. Using supervised machine-learning techniques trained on labeled generator events, we leverage intrinsic kinematic differences among quasi-elastic scattering, meson-exchange current, resonance production, and deep-inelastic scattering processes. A cross-generator testing framework demonstrates that this classification approach is robust to microphysics mismodeling and, when applied to a simulated DUNE $ν_μ$ disappearance analysis, yields improved accuracy and sensitivity. These results highlight a practical path toward reducing reconstruction-driven systematics in future oscillation measurements.