A simulation model investigation of neutron-oxygen inelastic scattering and subsequent nucleus deexcitation based on experimental data

Abstract The nuclear interaction model plays an essential role in understanding neutrino-nucleus interactions in large-scale neutrino detectors. For example, in the Super-Kamiokande experiment, systematic uncertainties regarding atmospheric neutrino interactions on oxygen limit the sensitivity to some physics studies, such as the diffuse supernova neutrino background search. Reduction of such uncertainties necessitates an accurate modeling of nuclear reactions and subsequent nuclear deexcitation. For this purpose, a detailed study was performed by comparing various combinations of simulation models with the newly released neutron experimental data. From this study, it is found that the combination of INCL++ and NucDeEx implemented in a Geant4-based simulation shows a better agreement with the experimental data. The presented result will be referred to improve the future physics studies at neutrino detectors, including the current focus of Super-Kamiokande.