Modeling neutrino-nucleus interactions. Do we need a new paradigm?

Abstract

The availability of the double-differential charged-current neutrino cross section, measured by the MiniBooNE collaboration using a carbon target, allows for a systematic comparison of nuclear effects in quasi-elastic electron and neutrino scattering. The results of theoretical studies based on the impulse approximation scheme and state-of-the-art models of the nuclear spectral functions suggest that the electron cross section and the flux averaged neutrino cross sections corresponding to the same target and seemingly comparable kinematical conditions can not be described within the same theoretical scheme using the value ofthe nucleon axial mass obtained from deuterium measurements. I analyze the assumptions underlying the treatment of electron scattering data, and argue that the development of a new {\em paradigm}, suitable for application to processes in which the lepton kinematics is not fully determined, will be required.