Comparison of electron-nucleus quasi-elastic cross sections using spectral functions with (e, e′) data from 0.5 GeV to 1.5 GeV and effects on neutrino quasi-elastic cross sections

We carry out a relativistic calculation of the cross sections of electron-16O and -12C quasi-elastic scattering and quasi-free Δ production and compare with the (e, e′) data systematically in the wide energy range of 0.5 - 1.5 GeV. Using the same formalism, we examine the νμ quasi-elastic scattering from 16O. The model incorporating the nuclear correlation effects agrees better with the electron-nucleus scattering data than a uniform Fermi-Gas model. In the neutrino quasi-elastic scattering, the nuclear correlation has an appreciable effect on the cross section of high-energy scattered leptons, and it may have an important consequence in the neutrino oscillation measurements aiming at a few % precision.