Quasi-Two-Body Scaling: A Study of High-Momentum Nucleons in Nuclear Matter

Abstract

I show that the shapes of the differential cross sections for the "backward" production of high-energy particles ($p, d, t, \dots{}, {\mathrm{B}}^{11}$), by projectiles of various types ($p, d, \ensuremath{\alpha}$), from nuclei of any $A$ (Be,...,U), and for a large range of incident momenta and backward angles, can be related by quasi-two-body kinematics. This permits the direct determination of the shape of the momentum distribution of high-momentum nucleons in nuclear matter. This distribution is shown to be $F(k)=\frac{\mathrm{exp}(\ensuremath{-}\frac{k}{{k}_{0}})}{k}$ over the range 0.4 to 1.5 GeV/c.