Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. (2021) 230: 4373-4389
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00293-9

Review

Neutrino interactions with matter and the MiniBooNE anomaly

Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC) and Departamento de Física Teórica, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and Universidad de Valencia (UV), 46980, Paterna, Valencia, Spain

^a Luis.Alvarez@ific.uv.es

Received: 12 July 2021
Accepted: 19 September 2021
Published online: 21 October 2021

Abstract

The excess of electron-like events measured by MiniBooNE challenges our understanding of neutrinos and their interactions. We review the status of this open problem and ongoing efforts to resolve it. After introducing the experiment and its results, we consider the main experimental backgrounds and the related physics of neutrino interactions with matter, such as quasielastic-like scattering and weak pion production on nucleons and nuclei. Special attention is paid to single photon emission in neutral current interactions and, in particular, its coherent channel. The difficulties to reconcile the MiniBooNE anomaly with global oscillation analysis is then highlighted. We finally outline some of the proposed solutions of the puzzle involving unconventional neutrino-interaction mechanisms.