{
  "abstract": "Neutral-current interactions of atmospheric neutrinos in large liquid scintillator detectors offer a new opportunity to study single-signal events (hereafter singles), characterized by a prompt energy deposition on the MeV-to-GeV scale and no identified delayed signal. In this work, we systematically investigate the model dependence of atmospheric-neutrino singles due to the primary neutrino-nucleus interaction, residual-nucleus de-excitation, and secondary interactions in the scintillator. Our results show that the dominant model dependence originates from the primary neutrino-nucleus interaction, especially for neutral-current processes on carbon, whereas de-excitation is essential for the singles selection yet leads to relatively small spectral variations among realistic models. Secondary-interaction effects are also subdominant overall. We further present the predicted event rates and prompt-energy spectra for neutral-current singles, along with the charged-current contribution. Separately, we estimate the low-energy contribution from elastic scattering of sub-\\SI{100}{\\MeV} atmospheric neutrinos on free protons. These results highlight the physics potential of current and future large liquid scintillator detectors, such as the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory, to study atmospheric-neutrino singles, probe neutrino-nucleus interaction models, and improve background estimates for rare-event searches.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2608.28095",
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Zhenning Qu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jie Cheng"
    },
    {
      "name": "Wan-lei Guo"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gaosong Li"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yu-Feng Li"
    },
    {
      "name": "Liang-jian Wen"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/754v9fp69tswg.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2608.28095",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "754v9fp69tswg",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28095",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ex"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Neutrino Physics Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7204825575",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.28095",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-08-28",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/754v9fp69tswg.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:41Z",
      "native_id": "2608.28095",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28095"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-ex",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Characterizing Single-Signal Events from Atmospheric-Neutrino Neutral-Current Interactions in Large Liquid Scintillator Detectors",
  "title_text": "Characterizing Single-Signal Events from Atmospheric-Neutrino Neutral-Current Interactions in Large Liquid Scintillator Detectors",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/754v9fp69tswg",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}