One of the remaining big mysteries in physics is the matter dominance of the universe. We have no idea why our universe consists of matter, while almost no antimatter survived the fiery aftermath of the Big Bang. Worldwide, neutrino oscillation experiments are preparing for a decisive quest in this investigation. In these experiments, this asymmetry would show up as a small difference between the oscillation probability for neutrinos and for antineutrinos.

The success of future accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments however strongly depends on the precision with which neutrinos-interactions with the heavy nuclei used as target material, are modeled.  Cross sections for neutrino-nucleus interactions are essential for the analysis of oscillation experiments. Both the interaction probability and its energy dependence are important. Soon, experiments will be limited by systematic rather than statistical uncertainties, such that gathering more data does not help reduce the uncertainties. Moreover, the latest generation of experiments will also examine cross sections at lower energies and will be used for the detection of supernova neutrinos.

This makes it imperative to find better strategies to understand the reaction.  Recent experimental developments make it possible to study not only the lepton observables but also the energy and direction of the outgoing hadrons. In this project we therefore want to develop microscopic models focusing on the description of the kinematics of the final hadrons in these processes and confront the results with predictions of Monte Carlo simulations used in the experimental analyses.