Neutral Current Neutrino-116Cd Reaction Cross Sections at Low and Intermediate Energies

Differential and integrated cross sections for inelastic scattering of electron neutrinos from a 116Cd target at low and intermediate neutrino energies (εi≤100 MeV) are presented. The nuclear wave functions for the initial and final nuclear states are constructed in the context of quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA). By exploiting the results of these cross sections, we study the response of 116Cd to supernova neutrino spectra by utilizing the folding procedure and employing a two-parameter Fermi-Dirac distribution for the supernova neutrino spectra. Our results show that, this isotope may play a significant role in supernova neutrino detection, in addition to its use in double-beta-decay experiments (COBRA, etc)