The response of 95,97Mo to supernova neutrinos

Knowledge about nuclear responses to neutrinos is essential for both astrophysical applications and studies of neutrino properties. We perform in this paper calculations of the cross sections for neutral-current neutrino scattering off the odd image Mo isotopes for energies appropriate for the detection of supernova neutrinos. Both the incoherent and coherent contributions to the cross sections are evaluated. The prominently contributing nuclear final states are identified and analysed. We employ the microscopic quasiparticle-phonon model (MQPM) to construct the wave functions of the initial and final nuclear states. The response of the aforementioned nuclei to supernova neutrinos are computed by folding the obtained cross sections with a two-parameter Fermi–Dirac distribution. The sensitivity of the calculated nuclear responses to the adopted supernova model is also discussed.