Testing of quasi-elastic neutrino charged-current and two-body meson exchange current models with the MiniBooNE neutrino data and analysis of these processes at energies available at the NOvA experiment

Abstract: The charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE) scattering of muon neutrinos on a carbon target is analyzed using the relativistic distorted-wave impulse approximation (RDWIA) taking into account the contribution of the two-particle and two-hole meson exchange current ($2p-2h$ MEC) to the weak response functions. A fit the RDWIA+MEC model to the MiniBooNE neutrino data is performed and the best fit value of nucleon axial mass $M_A=1.2 \pm 0.06$ GeV is obtained. We also extract the values of the axial form factor $F_A(Q^2)$ as a function of the squared momentum transfer $Q^2$ from the measured $d\sigma/dQ^2$ cross section. The flux-integrated CCQE-like differential cross sections for neutrino scattering at energies of the NOvA experiment are estimated within the RDWIA+MEC approach.