Experimental cross sections for the $^4He(e,ep)X$ reaction up to a missing momentum of 0.632 GeV/$c$ at $x_B=1.24$ and $Q^2$=2(GeV/$c$)$^2$ are reported. The data are compared to Relativistic Distorted Wave Impulse Approximation(RDWIA) calculations for $^4He(e,ep)^3H$ channel. Significantly more events in the triton mass region are measured for $p_{m}$$>$0.45 GeV/$c$ than are predicted by the theoretical model, suggesting that the effects of initial-state multi-nucleon correlations are stronger than expected by the RDWIA model.
We measured the 12C(e,ep) cross section as a function of missing energy in parallel kinematics for (q,w) = (970 MeV/c, 330 MeV) and (990 MeV/c, 475 MeV). At w=475 MeV, at the maximum of the quasielastic peak, there is a large continuum (E_m > 50 MeV) cross section extending out to the deepest missing energy measured, amounting to almost 50% of the measured cross section. The ratio of data to DWIA calculation is 0.4 for both the p- and s-shells. At w=330 MeV, well below the maximum of the quasielastic peak, the continuum cross section is much smaller and the ratio of data to DWIA calculation is 0.85 for the p-shell and 1.0 for the s-shell. We infer that one or more mechanisms that increase with $omega$ transform some of the single-nucleon-knockout into multinucleon knockout, decreasing the valence knockout cross section and increasing the continuum cross section.
Polarization transfer in quasi-elastic nucleon knockout is sensitive to the properties of the nucleon in the nuclear medium, including possible modification of the nucleon form factor and/or spinor. In our recently completed experiment E03-104 at Jefferson Lab we measured the proton recoil polarization in the 4He(e,ep)3H reaction at a Q^2 of 0.8 (GeV/c)^2 and 1.3 (GeV/c)^2 with unprecedented precision. These data complement earlier data between 0.4 and 2.6 (GeV/c)^2 from both Mainz and Jefferson Lab. The measured ratio of polarization-transfer coefficients differs from a fully relativistic calculation, favoring either the inclusion of a medium modification of the proton form factors predicted by a quark-meson coupling model or strong charge-exchange final-state interactions. The measured induced polarizations agree well with the fully relativistic calculation and indicate that these strong final-state interactions may not be applicable.
We measured with unprecedented precision the induced polarization Py in 4He(e,ep)3H at Q^2 = 0.8 (GeV/c)^2 and 1.3 (GeV/c)^2. The induced polarization is indicative of reaction-mechanism effects beyond the impulse approximation. Our results are in agreement with a relativistic distorted-wave impulse approximation calculation but are over-estimated by a calculation with strong charge-exchange effects. Our data are used to constrain the strength of the spin independent charge-exchange term in the latter calculation.
Polarization transfer in quasi-elastic nucleon knockout is sensitive to the properties of the nucleon in the nuclear medium, including possible modification of the nucleon form factor and/or spinor. In our recently completed experiment E03-104 at Jefferson Lab we measured the proton recoil polarization in the 4He(e,ep)3H reaction at a Q^2 of 0.8 (GeV/c)^2 and 1.3 (GeV/c)^2 with unprecedented precision. These data complement earlier data between 0.4 and 2.6 (GeV/c)^2 from both Mainz and Jefferson Lab. The measured ratio of polarization-transfer coefficients differs from a fully relativistic calculation, favoring either the inclusion of a medium modification of the proton form factors predicted by a quark-meson coupling model or strong charge-exchange final-state interactions. The measured induced polarizations agree well with the fully relativistic calculation and indicate that these strong final-state interactions may not be applicable.
We studied simultaneously the 4He(e,ep), 4He(e,epp), and 4He(e,epn) reactions at Q^2=2 [GeV/c]2 and x_B>1, for a (e,ep) missing-momentum range of 400 to 830 MeV/c. The knocked-out proton was detected in coincidence with a proton or neutron recoiling almost back to back to the missing momentum, leaving the residual A=2 system at low excitation energy. These data were used to identify two-nucleon short-range correlated pairs and to deduce their isospin structure as a function of missing momentum in a region where the nucleon-nucleon force is expected to change from predominantly tensor to repulsive. Neutron-proton pairs dominate the high-momentum tail of the nucleon momentum distributions, but their abundance is reduced as the nucleon momentum increases beyond ~500 MeV/c. The extracted fraction of proton-proton pairs is small and almost independent of the missing momentum in the range we studied. Our data are compared with ab-initio calculations of two-nucleon momentum distributions in 4He.