Short-range Correlations In Nuclei Research Articles

Gamow–Teller Transitions and the Spin EMC Effect: the Bjorken Sum-rule in Medium

Gamow-Teller transitions in nuclei tell us that the nucleon's axial charge $g_A^{(3)}$ is quenched in large nuclei by about 20%. This result tells us that the spin structure of the nucleon is modified in nuclei and disfavours models of the medium dependence of parton structure based only on nucleon short range correlations in nuclei. For polarized photoproduction the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn integral is expected to be strongly enhanced in medium.

Short range correlations in nuclei and nuclear matter

Short range correlations in nuclei and nuclear matter arise from the strong repulsion of the nuclear interaction at short distances. The existence of these correlations has been confirmed in a variety of nuclear experiments with electroweak and hadronic probes. The theoretical and experimental efforts in the last decade have focused on quantifying short-range correlations and, in particular, their isospin dependence. Here, I will analyze and summarise some of the recent conclusions in the literature using as a baseline a theoretical method, based on many-body Green’s functions theory, and a single quantity, the one-body momentum distribution.

Exclusive studies on short range correlations in nuclei

Short Range Correlations (SRC) are brief fluctuations of high relative momentum nucleon pairs. Properties of SRC have important consequences for nuclear physics, high energy physics, atomic physics, and astrophysics. SRC pairs form some of the densest states of cold matter achievable on Earth, making them an ideal system to study the partonic and nucleonic degrees of freedom in nuclear systems. Hard exclusive breakup reactions, where high-energy probes scatter on SRC pairs, are used to study such properties of SRC pairs as isospin decomposition, nuclear mass and asymmetry dependence, c.m. momentum distribution. Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) plays a key role in the SRC program. CLAS (CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer), located in Hall B at JLab, has almost 4πcoverage and is capable of measuring exclusive reactions of the type A(e, e’pp). We will discuss the recent experimental results from JLab and future experiments planned at JLab as well as at JINR.

The nuclear contacts and short range correlations in nuclei

Atomic nuclei are complex strongly interacting systems and their exact theoretical description is a long-standing challenge. An approximate description of nuclei can be achieved by separating its short and long range structure. This separation of scales stands at the heart of the nuclear shell model and effective field theories that describe the long-range structure of the nucleus using a mean-field approximation. We present here an effective description of the complementary short-range structure using contact terms and stylized two-body asymptotic wave functions. The possibility to extract the nuclear contacts from experimental data is presented. Regions in the two-body momentum distribution dominated by high-momentum, close-proximity, nucleon pairs are identified and compared to experimental data. The amount of short-range correlated (SRC) nucleon pairs is determined and compared to measurements. Non-combinatorial isospin symmetry for SRC pairs is identified. The obtained one-body momentum distributions indicate dominance of SRC pairs above the nuclear Fermi-momentum.

New Results on Short-Range Correlations in Nuclei

Nuclear dynamics at short distances is one of the most fascinating topics of strong interaction physics. The physics of it is closely related to the understanding of the role of the QCD in generating nuclear forces at short distances, as well as of the dynamics of the superdense cold nuclear matter relevant to the interior of neutron stars. The emergence of high-energy electron and proton beams has led to significant recent progress in high-energy nuclear scattering experiments investigating the short-range structure of nuclei. These experiments, in turn, have stimulated new theoretical studies resulting in the observation of several new phenomena specific to the short-range structure of nuclei. We review recent theoretical and experimental progress in studies of short-range correlations in nuclei and discuss their importance for advancing our understanding of the dynamics of nuclear interactions at short distances.

Constraining nucleon high momentum in nuclei

Recent studies at Jefferson Lab show that there are a certain proportion of nucleons in nuclei have momenta greater than the so-called nuclear Fermi momentum $p_{F}$. Based on the transport model of nucleus-nucleus collisions at intermediate energies, nucleon high momentum caused by the neutron-proton short-range correlations in nuclei is constrained by comparing with $\pi$ and photon experimental data and considering some uncertainties. The high momentum cutoff value $p_{max}$ $\leq$ 2$p_{F}$ is obtained.

Green’s function calculations of light nuclei

The influence of short-range correlations in nuclei was investigated with realistic nuclear force. The nucleon-nucleon interaction was renormalized with $V_{\text{low}k}$ technique and applied to the Green's function calculations. The Dyson equation was reformulated with algebraic diagrammatic constructions. We also analyzed the binding energy of $^4$He, calculated with chiral potential and CD-Bonn potential. The properties of Green's function with realistic nuclear forces are also discussed.

Quarks in Few Body Nuclei

Electron scattering at very high Bjorken x from hadrons provides an excellent test of models, has an important role in high energy physics, and from nuclei, provides a window into short range correlations. Light nuclei have a key role because of the relatively well-known nuclear structure. The development of a novel tritium target for Jefferson Lab has led to renewed interest in the mass three system. For example, deep inelastic scattering experiments in the light nuclei provide a powerful means to determine the neutron structure function. The isospin dependence of electron scattering from mass-3 nuclei provide information on short range correlations in nuclei. The program using the new tritium target will be presented along with a summary of other experiments aimed at revealing the large-x structure of the nucleon.

Generalized nuclear contacts and momentum distributions

The general nuclear contact matrices are defined, taking into consideration all partial waves and finite-range interactions, extending Tan's work for the zero range model. The properties of these matrices are discussed and the relations between the contacts and the one-nucleon and two-nucleon momentum distributions are derived. Using these relations, a new asymptotic connection between the one-nucleon and two-nucleon momentum distributions, describing the two-body short-range correlations in nuclei, is obtained. Using available numerical data, we extract few connections between the different contacts and verify their relations to the momentum distributions. The numerical data also allows us to identify the main nucleon momentum range affected by two-body short-range correlations. Utilizing these relations and the numerical data, we also verify a previous independent prediction connecting between the Levinger constant and the contacts. This work provides an important indication for the relevance of the contact formalism to nuclear systems, and should open the path for revealing more useful relations between the contacts and interesting quantities of nuclei and nuclear matter.

Probing superfast quarks in nuclei through dijet production at the LHC

We investigate dijet production from proton-nucleus collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) as a means for observing superfast quarks in nuclei with Bjorken $x>1$. Kinematically, superfast quarks can be identified through directly measurable jet kinematics. Dynamically, their description requires understanding several elusive properties of nuclear QCD, such as nuclear forces at very short distances, as well as medium modification of parton distributions in nuclei. In the present work, we develop a model for nuclear parton distributions at large $x$ in which the nuclear dynamics at short distance scales are described by two- and three-nucleon short range correlations (SRCs). Nuclear modifications are accounted for using the color screening model, and an improved description of the EMC effect is reached by using a structure function parametrization that includes higher-twist contributions. We apply QCD evolution at the leading order to obtain nuclear parton distributions in the kinematic regime of the LHC, and based on the obtained distributions calculate the cross section for dijet production. We find not only that superfast quarks can be observed at the LHC, but also that they provide sensitivity to the practically unexplored three-nucleon SRCs in nuclei. Additionally, the LHC can extend our knowledge of the EMC effect to large $Q^2$ where higher-twist effects are negligible.

Short-range correlations in nuclei with similarity renormalization group transformations

$\mathbf{Background:}$ Realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions induce short-range correlations in nuclei. To solve the many-body problem unitary transformations like the similarity renormalization group (SRG) are often used to soften the interactions. $\mathbf{Purpose:}$ Two-body densities can be used to illustrate how the SRG eliminates short-range correlations in the wave function. The short-range information can however be recovered by transforming the density operators. $\mathbf{Method:}$ The many-body problem is solved for $^4$He in the no core shell model (NCSM) with SRG transformed AV8' and chiral N3LO interactions. The NCSM wave functions are used to calculate two-body densities with bare and SRG transformed density operators in two-body approximation. $\mathbf{Results:}$ The two-body momentum distributions for AV8' and N3LO have similar high-momentum components up to relative momenta of about $2.5\,\mathrm{fm}^{-1}$, dominated by tensor correlations, but differ in their behavior at higher relative momenta. The contributions of many-body correlations are small for pairs with vanishing pair momentum but not negligible for the momentum distributions integrated over all pair momenta. Many-body correlations are induced by the strong tensor force and lead to a reshuffling of pairs between different spin-isospin channels. $\mathbf{Conclusions:}$ When using the SRG it is essential to use transformed operators for observables sensitive to short-range physics. Back-to-back pairs with vanishing pair momentum are the best tool to study short-range correlations.

Mass dependence of short-range correlations in nuclei and the EMC effect

We sketch an approximate method to quantify the number of correlated pairs in any nucleus $A$. It is based on counting independent-particle model (IPM) nucleon-nucleon pairs in a relative $S$-state with no radial excitation. We show that IPM pairs with those quantum numbers are most prone to short-range correlations and are at the origin of the high-momentum tail of the nuclear momentum distributions. Our method allows to compute the $a_2$ ratios extracted from inclusive electron scattering. Furthermore, our results reproduce the observed linear correlation between the number of correlated pairs and the magnitude of the EMC effect. We show that the width of the pair center-of-mass distribution in exclusive two-nucleon knockout yields information on the quantum numbers of the pairs.

Detailed study of the nuclear dependence of the EMC effect and short-range correlations

Background: The density of the nucleus has been important in explaining the nuclear dependence of the quark distributions, also known as the EMC effect, as well as the presence of high-momentum nucleons arising from short-range correlations (SRCs). Recent measurements of both of these effects on light nuclei have shown a clear deviation from simple density-dependent models.Purpose: A better understanding of the nuclear quark distributions and short-range correlations requires a careful examination of the experimental data on these effects to constrain models that attempt to describe these phenomena.Methods: We present a detailed analysis of the nuclear dependence of the EMC effect and the contribution of SRCs in nuclei, comparing to predictions and simple scaling models based on different pictures of the underlying physics. We also make a direct, quantitative comparison of the two effects to further examine the connection between these two observables related to nuclear structure.Results: We find that, with the inclusion of the new data on light nuclei, neither of these observables can be well explained by common assumptions for the nuclear dependence. The anomalous behavior of both effects in light nuclei is consistent with the idea that the EMC effect is driven by either the presence of high-density configurations in nuclei or the large virtuality of the high-momentum nucleons associated with these configurations.Conclusions: The unexpected nuclear dependence in the measurements of the EMC effect and SRC contributions appear to suggest that the local environment of the struck nucleon is the most relevant quantity for explaining these results. The common behavior suggests a connection between the two seemingly disparate phenomena, but the data do not yet allow for a clear preference between models which aim to explain this connection.

Quantifying short-range correlations in nuclei

An approximate method to quantify the magnitude of the two-nucleon (2N) and three-nucleon (3N) short-range correlations (SRC) and their mass dependence is proposed. The proposed method relies on the concept of the "universality" or "local nuclear character" of the SRC. We quantify the SRC by computing the number of independent-particle model (IPM) nucleon pairs and triples which reveal beyond-mean-field behavior. It is argued that those can be identified by counting the number of nucleon pairs and triples in a zero relative orbital momentum state. A method to determine the quantum numbers of pairs and triples in an arbitrary mean-field basis is outlined. The mass dependence of the 2N and 3N SRC is studied. The predictions are compared to measurements. This includes the ratio of the inclusive inelastic electron scattering cross sections of nuclei to 2H and 3He at large values of the Bjorken variable. Corrections stemming from the center-of-mass motion of the pairs are estimated. We find that the relative probability per nucleon for 2N and 3N SRC has a soft dependence with mass number A and that the proton-neutron 2N SRC outnumber the proton-proton (neutron-neutron) 2N SRC. A linear relationship between the magnitude of the EMC effect and the predicted number of proton-neutron SRC pairs is observed. This provides support for the role of local nuclear dynamics on the EMC effect.

Nuclear fragmentation study at ITEP heavy ion facility

In an experiment performed at ITEP TWA heavy ion accelerator, the yields of hydrogen (p,d,t) and helium (from 3He to 8He) isotopes at 3.5° from fragmentation of 12C at T0 = 0.2 − 3.2 GeV/nucleon on a Be target have been measured. Momentum spectra of the fragments in the projectile rest frame have been obtained in larger momentum intervals than in the previous experiments with heavy ion beams. The main attention was given to the region of high momentum where fragment velocity exceeds the velocity of the projectile nucleus. The obtained data cover about 6 orders of the differential cross section magnitude. It made possible the observation of a transition from the Gaussian shape of the longitudinal momentum spectra in projectile rest frame, expected for the evaporation mechanism, to the exponential shape, typical for the cumulative (pre-equilibrium) processes. The Feynman x distributions for protons are analyzed in the framework of quark-gluon string model. The probabilities of existence of six-and nine-quark clusters are estimated and compared with the results on two- (three-) nucleon short range correlations in nuclei measured at Jefferson Laboratory.

Role of short-range and tensor correlations in nuclei

The present theoretical understanding of the role of short-range correlations in nuclei near stability is reviewed. Two effects are identified in particular: first, the depletion of mean-field single-particle strength that is no longer available to participate in low-lying excitations. Second, the admixture of high-momentum nucleons in the ground state that is implied by the vanishing relative wave functions of pairs in the medium. The role of the tensor force will be further clarified by discussing isospin-polarized matter. It is demonstrated that the depletion of the proton and neutron Fermi seas depends strongly on the nuclear tensor force and appears to be determined by nucleon-nucleon scattering data. The increased role of short-range and tensor correlations for the minority species makes the case for further experimental scrutiny of nuclei with large neutron excess. Appropriate data of single- and two-nucleon knockout experiments are employed to illustrate the role of short-range and tensor correlations.

Beam fragmentation in heavy ion collisions with realistically correlated nuclear configurations

We develop a new approach to production of the spectator nucleons in the ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. The energy transfer to the spectator system is calculated using the Monte Carlo based on the updated version of our generator of configurations in colliding nuclei which includes a realistic account of short-range correlations in nuclei. The transferred energy distributions are calculated within the framework of the Glauber multiple-scattering theory, taking into account all individual inelastic and elastic collisions using an independent realistic calculation of the potential energy contribution of each of the nucleon-nucleon pairs to the total potential. We show that the dominant mechanism of the energy transfer is tearing apart pairs of nucleons with the major contribution coming from the short-range correlations. We calculate the momentum distribution of the directed flow of emitted nucleons which is strongly affected by short-range correlations, including its dependence on the azimuthal angle. In particular, we predict a strong angular asymmetry along the direction of the impact parameter $\text{b}$, providing a unique opportunity to determine the direction of $\text{b}$. Also, we predict a strong dependence of the shape of the nucleon momentum distribution on the centrality of the nucleus-nucleus collision.

Short range correlations in nuclei

Studying nucleon-nucleon (NN) correlated pairs will teach us a great deal about the high momentum part of the nuclear wave function, the short range part of the NN interaction, and the nature of cold dense nuclear matter. These correlations are similar in all nuclei, differing only in magnitude. High momentum nucleons, p > pfermi, all have a correlated partner with approximately equal and opposite momentum.At pair relative momenta of 300 < prel < 500 MeV/c, these correlated pairs are dominated by tensor correlations. This is shown by the dominance of pn over pp pairs at pair total momentum and by the parity of pn to pp pairs at large pair total momentum.

Quasifree scattering of electrons on light nuclei and some properties of nuclear interaction

The status of experimental and theoretical studies of the position of the quasifree cross-section maximum in the A(e, e′) reaction is discussed. The dependence of the shift of the maximum relative to the elastic eN-scattering on the kinematic conditions of measurements is considered. The possibilities of using the data for the selection of realistic models of nucleon-nucleon interaction and dynamic short-range correlations in nuclei, as well as for determining the parameters of the nucleon-nucleus potential and the nucleon effective mass, are analyzed.

Experimental and theoretical indications for an intermediate σ-dressed dibaryon in the NN interaction

Numerous theoretical and experimental arguments in favor of the generation of intermediate σ-dressed dibaryon in NN interaction at middle and short distances are presented. We argue that this intermediate dibaryon should be responsible for the strong middle-range attraction and the short-range repulsion in the NN interaction, and also for the short-range correlations in nuclei. The suggested mechanism for the σ-dressing of the dibaryon is identical to that which explains the Roper-resonance structure, its dominant decay mode and its extraordinary low mass. It is arguing that the (partial) chiral symmetry restoration effects, common for the Roper resonance and dressed dibaryon, are responsible for strong renormalizing of their masses and widths and the observed σ-meson mass and decay width as well. The new experimental data on 2 π-production in the scalar–isoscalar channel produced in pn- and pd-collisions and recent data on γγ correlations in pC and dC scattering in the GeV region seems to corroborate the existence of the σ-dressed dibaryon in two- and three-nucleon interactions. A similar transformation mechanism from the glue to the scalar field can be valid also in some J/ Ψ decays and in enormous σ-meson production in central pp collisions at high energies.