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Abstract We report on a measurement of elastic electron scattering on argon performed with a novel cryogenic gas-jet target at the Mainz Microtron accelerator MAMI. The luminosity is estimated with the thermodynamical parameters of the target and by comparison to a calculation in distorted-wave Born approximation. The cross section, measured at new momentum transfers of 1.24 $$\hbox {fm}^{-1}$$ ${\text{fm}}^{-1}$and 1.55 $$\hbox {fm}^{-1}$$ ${\text{fm}}^{-1}$is in agreement with previous experiments performed with a traditional high-pressure gas target, as well as with modernab-initiocalculations employing state-of-the-art nuclear forces from chiral effective field theory. The nearly background-free measurement highlights the optimal properties of the gas-jet target for elements heavier than hydrogen, enabling new applications in hadron and nuclear physics. 

Abstract Maximizing the discovery potential of increasingly precise neutrino experiments will require an improved theoretical understanding of neutrino-nucleus cross sections over a wide range of energies. Low-energy interactions are needed to reconstruct the energies of astrophysical neutrinos from supernovae bursts and search for new physics using increasingly precise measurement of coherent elastic neutrino scattering. Higher-energy interactions involve a variety of reaction mechanisms including quasi-elastic scattering, resonance production, and deep inelastic scattering that must all be included to reliably predict cross sections for energies relevant to DUNE and other accelerator neutrino experiments. Refined nuclear interaction models in these energy regimes will also be valuable for other applications, such as measurements of reactor, solar, and atmospheric neutrinos. This manuscript discusses the theoretical status, challenges, required resources, and path forward for achieving precise predictions of neutrino-nucleus scattering and emphasizes the need for a coordinated theoretical effort involved lattice QCD, nuclear effective theories, phenomenological models of the transition region, and event generators.