Role of Final State Interactions in Determining CP Violation in the Neutrino Sector

Next generation neutrino experiments such as Hyper-Kamiokande require neutrino interaction cross-section uncertainties to be reduced to the few-percent level if a competitive constraint is to be placed on the magnitude of CP violation in the neutrino sector.

One major challenge in reducing these uncertainties is that 'final state interactions', interactions between outgoing nucleons and pions as they leave nuclei, can shield our view of the primary neutrino interaction vertex.

In this project Tom will explore how new constraints could be placed on final state interactions using pion and nucleon scattering data from thick target experiments, before exploring how these new constraints could improve neutrino oscillation analyses on the Tokai-to-Kamiokande experiment and future Hyper-Kamiokande experiment.