Direct observation of proton-neutron short-range correlation dominance in heavy nuclei

Duer, M. et al. (2019) Direct observation of proton-neutron short-range correlation dominance in heavy nuclei. Physical Review Letters, 122(17), 172502. (doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.172502)

Abstract

We measured the triple coincidence A(e,e′np) and A(e,e′pp) reactions on carbon, aluminum, iron, and lead targets at Q2>1.5  (GeV/c)2, xB>1.1 and missing momentum >400  MeV/c. This was the first direct measurement of both proton-proton (pp) and neutron-proton (np) short-range correlated (SRC) pair knockout from heavy asymmetric nuclei. For all measured nuclei, the average proton-proton (pp) to neutron-proton (np) reduced cross-section ratio is about 6%, in agreement with previous indirect measurements. Correcting for single-charge exchange effects decreased the SRC pairs ratio to ∼3%, which is lower than previous results. Comparisons to theoretical generalized contact formalism (GCF) cross-section calculations show good agreement using both phenomenological and chiral nucleon-nucleon potentials, favoring a lower pp to np pair ratio. The ability of the GCF calculation to describe the experimental data using either phenomenological or chiral potentials suggests possible reduction of scale and scheme dependence in cross-section ratios. Our results also support the high-resolution description of high-momentum states being predominantly due to nucleons in SRC pairs.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The analysis presented here was carried out as part of the Jefferson Lab Hall B Data-Mining project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The research was supported also by the National Science Foundation, the Pazy Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, the Chilean Comisin Nacional de Investigacin Cientfica y Tecnolgica, the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique the French-American Cultural Exchange, the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, the National Research Foundation of Korea, and the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council. Jefferson Science Associates operates the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility for the DOE, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics under Contract No. DE-AC05-06OR23177.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Sokhan, Dr Daria and McKinnon, Dr Bryan and Ireland, Professor David and Clark, Ms Louise and Livingston, Dr Kenneth and MacGregor, Professor Douglas and Montgomery, Dr Rachel and Rosner, Professor Guenther and Protopopescu, Dr Dan
• Authors: Duer, M., Schmidt, A., Pybus, J. R., Segarra, E. P., Hrnjic, A., Denniston, A. W., Weiss, R., Hen, O., Piasetzky, E., Weinstein, L. B., Barnea, N., Korover, I., Cohen, E. O., Hakobyan, H., Adhikari, S., Angelini, G., Battaglieri, M., Beck, A., Bedlinskiy, I., Biselli, A. S., Boiarinov, S., Brooks, W., Burkert, V. D., Cao, F., Carman, D. S., Celentano, A., Chetry, T., Ciullo, G., Clark, L., Cole, P. L., Contalbrigo, M., Cortes, O., Crede, V., Cruz Torres, R., D’Angelo, A., Dashyan, N., De Sanctis, E., De Vita, R., Deur, A., Diehl, S., Djalali, C., Dupre, R., Duran, B., Egiyan, H., El Alaoui, A., El Fassi, L., Eugenio, P., Filippi, A., Forest, T. A., Gilfoyle, G. P., Giovanetti, K. L., Girod, F. X., Golovatch, E., Gothe, R. W., Griffioen, K. A., Guo, L., Hafidi, K., Hanretty, C., Harrison, N., Hattawy, M., Hauenstein, F., Hayward, T. B., Heddle, D., Hicks, K., Holtrop, M., Ilieva, Y., Ireland, D.G., Ishkhanov, B. S., Isupov, E. L., Jo, H. S., Joo, K., Kabir, M. L., Keller, D., Khachatryan, M., Khanal, A., Khandaker, M., Kim, W., Klein, F. J., Kubarovsky, V., Kuhn, S. E., Lanza, L., Laskaris, G., Lenisa, P., Livingston, K., MacGregor, I.J.D., Marchand, D., Markov, N., McKinnon, B., Mey-Tal Beck, S., Mirazita, M., Mokeev, V., Montgomery, R.A., Movsisyan, A., Munoz Camacho, C., Mustapha, B., Nadel-Turonski, P., Niccolai, S., Niculescu, G., Osipenko, M., Ostrovidov, A. I., Paolone, M., Paremuzyan, R., Park, K., Pasyuk, E., Patsyuk, M., Phelps, W., Pogorelko, O., Prok, Y., Protopopescu, D., Ripani, M., Rizzo, A., Rosner, G., Rossi, P., Sabatié, F., Schmookler, B. A., Schumacher, R. A., Sharabian, Y., Skorodumina, I., Sokhan, D., Sparveris, N., Stepanyan, S., Strauch, S., Taiuti, M., Tan, J. A., Tyler, N., Ungaro, M., Voskanyan, H., Voutier, E., Wang, R., Wei, X., Wood, M. H., Zachariou, N., Zhang, J., Zhao, Z. W., and Zheng, X.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Physical Review Letters
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• ISSN (Online): 1079-7114
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 American Physical Society
• First Published: First published in Physical Review Letters 122(17):172502
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher