# Studying Short-Range Dynamics in Few-Body Systems

## 1 The Case for Few-Body Systems

Intermediate-energy electron scattering is the tool most suited to mapping the properties of individual nucleons in a nuclear medium . For heavier systems, theoretical calculations must use techniques which build the anticorrelation between nucleon locations, due to the short-range repulsion, into the strength of the interaction. The advantage of using a few-body system for the target is that the $`NN`$ interaction is directly used for the computation of the wave functions. For $`A=3`$ systems, Faddeev techniques allow a direct computation of the spectral function , and for heavier light nuclei, the technique of integral transforms  can be used to construct the spectral function. The spectral function $`S(E_m,p_m)`$ is closely related to the electron-scattering cross section and provides a probability distribution of nuclear protons versus their momentum $`p_m`$ and binding energy $`E_m`$.

## 2 Results from Inclusive Electron Scattering

At intermediate energies and quasifree kinematics, many inclusive $`(e,e^{})`$ experiments have been performed. Plane-wave reasoning suggests that at large $`Q^2=q^2`$, the $`(e,e^{})`$ cross section should become a function of only two factors. The first is the incoherent cross section to scatter electrons from all the nucleons in the nucleus, and the second is a partial integral $`F(y)`$ over the proton spectral function . $`y`$ is essentially the component of the struck proton’s momentum along the $`(e,e^{})`$ momentum transfer $`\stackrel{}{q}`$; it is also closely related to the deviation of $`\omega =E_eE_e^{}`$ from the quasielastic value $`\omega |\stackrel{}{q}|^2/2m_N`$.

Figure 1 shows the most recent $`(e,e^{})`$ data from Jefferson Lab . $`F(y)`$ is constructed as

$$F(y)=\frac{d^2\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }d\omega }[Z\sigma _{ep}+N\sigma _{en}]^1\frac{q}{(M^2+(y+q)^2)^{\frac{1}{2}}}$$
(1)   
For $`y<0`$ (low $`\omega `$ relative to the quasielastic peak), data for different kinematics are in excellent agreement, indicating that the effects beyond PWIA are small.

In studying short-range phenomena, access to specific regions in $`S(E_m,p_m)`$ is desirable so data on $`F(y)`$ are not sufficient. Coincidence data are required to access these regions. However there is one further inclusive measurement of interest, namely that of the Coulomb Sum Rule. This sum rule relates the energy-integrated longitudinal response from $`(e,e^{})`$ to the proton-proton correlation function . However, analyses have so far been inconclusive due to large theoretical corrections for reaction effects (*e.g.* meson-exchange currents (MEC)) and for incomplete $`\omega `$ coverage in the experiments .

## 3 Coincidence $`(e,e^{}p)`$ experiments

Coincidence $`(e,e^{}p)`$ experiments can in principle more directly probe the spectral function $`S(E_m,p_m)`$. In plane wave, the cross section is

$$\frac{d^6\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }_e^{}dE_e^{}d\mathrm{\Omega }_pdE_p}=|\stackrel{}{p}_p|E_p\sigma _{ep}S(E_m,p_m)$$
(2)   
and an extraction of the spectral function is unambiguous. The variables

$`E_m`$ and $`p_m`$ are computed by using the measured four-momenta of the incident electrons, scattered electrons and knocked-out protons to reconstruct the four-momentum of the residual $`(A1)`$ system $`R=(E_R,\stackrel{}{p}_R)`$. $`p_m=|\stackrel{}{p}_R|`$ and $`E_m=\sqrt{R^2}+m_pM_A`$. However, additional reaction-mechanism effects can break the direct link between the cross section and spectral function.

Fig. 2 shows data measured at NIKHEF  for the reaction $`{}_{}{}^{4}\text{He}(e,e^{}p)^3\text{H}`$. The dotted curve is the plane-wave prediction, and the sharp minimum is a feature of the spectral function which has been directly linked to the short-range part of the $`NN`$ interaction . The data do not exhibit this minimum, and the calculation attributes this discrepancy to $`p`$$`t`$ final-state interactions (FSI) and to MEC.

Another example of reaction effects thwarting access to interesting information comes from the large-$`E_m`$ data from the same experiment. Simple arguments lead to the prediction  of a “ridge” in the spectral function, due to short-range $`NN`$ interactions, along the locus $`E_m2S_N+(p_m)^2/2m_N`$ where $`S_N`$ is the single-nucleon separation energy. Computations of the spectral function have supported this prediction.

Fig. 3 shows data for $`{}_{}{}^{4}\text{He}(e,e^{}p)`$ at large $`E_m`$  along with theoretical predictions. The peak in the cross section (for both the data and the curves) follows the ridge relation noted above. However, the theory indicates that only about half of the observed cross section is due to direct knockout (dashed line). The rest is due to MEC. Also, for the lowest-$`p_m`$ data (the top pane), the calculation severely underpredicts the data at large $`E_m`$.

## 4 The Few-Body Program at Jefferson Lab

The preceding discussion makes clear that accessing the spectral function in regions of $`(E_m,p_m)`$ relevant to short-range nuclear dynamics is difficult. The problem is that the spectral function is relatively much smaller in these regions than at lower momenta and energies. This leads to the possibility that other reaction processes, even if weak, can substantially contaminate the data.

Many ideas have been formulated about how to suppress these contaminant processes in experiments. These ideas were difficult to implement in experiments at labs such as NIKHEF and Mainz, mainly because their beam energies were too low to provide the necessary kinematic flexibility. I now discuss some of these ideas and how they are being implemented at Jefferson Lab.

### 4.1 Parallel Kinematics

Fig. 4 depicts how measurements (including those of ) of cross sections at large $`p_m`$ were previously made. The simultaneous constraints on $`\omega `$, $`q`$, and $`p_m`$ made it impossible to reach large $`p_m`$ values unless the knocked-out protons were detected at large angles with respect to $`\stackrel{}{q}`$. Elastic FSI can seriously distort measurements in this type of measurement, since at the same electron kinematics, reactions such as that at left in Fig. 4 are also possible. The associated spectral function is several orders of magnitude larger due to the lower $`p_m`$ involved. Such low-$`p_m`$ protons can rescatter through large angles and contribute to (and perhaps even dominate) the large-$`p_m`$ cross section. This qualitative argument is supported by calculations  which show that FSI contributions are at a minimum in parallel kinematics.

The large beam energies available at Jefferson Lab make it possible to perform large-$`p_m`$ experiments at parallel kinematics, and several proposals utilizing this principle  are already on the books.

### 4.2 Variation of $`Q^2`$

Experiments at lower-energy labs were not able to make substantial variations in $`Q^2`$ for a given $`(E_m,p_m)`$ region. $`Q^2`$ variations are useful in two respects: to help discriminate between one- and two-body currents contributing to the cross section; and to suppress the contaminant (two-body) currents. The one-body direct-knockout process of interest only depends on $`Q^2`$ through the electron-proton cross section, while MEC and IC contributions are expected to have a very different $`Q^2`$ behaviour. There is disagreement about whether larger or smaller $`Q^2`$ experiments are better for suppressing the two-body currents; $`(e,e^{})`$ analyses appear to favor smaller $`Q^2`$, but the difference is only significant for $`y0`$ (see Fig. 1). All of the experiments studying short-range dynamics at Jefferson Lab plan to make measurements at multiple values of $`Q^2`$.

### 4.3 Large Negative $`y`$ Values

In Fig. 1 the data clearly violate the scaling hypothesis for $`y>0`$. This is generally accepted to result from contributions outside the one-body impulse approximation framework. At negative values of $`y`$, the data scale well. In addition, theoretical studies  have indicated that FSI are best suppressed when the ejected proton’s longitudinal (along $`\stackrel{}{q}`$) component is large and negative; this condition also yields a large, negative $`y`$ value. I should mention that these studies indicate that FSI are also suppressed when the longitudinal momentum is large and positive, but it is unclear how this condition constrains two-body currents. Two experiments in Hall A at Jefferson Lab  plan to make measurements at large negative $`y`$ kinematics.

### 4.4 Suppression of Multistep FSI

Ingo Sick has pointed out  an additional mechanism which contaminates $`(e,e^{}p)`$ measurements at large $`E_m`$. Multistep FSI, or $`p`$$`N`$ scattering within the nucleus, change both the energy and direction of knocked-out protons. This causes the proton to be detected with $`(E_m,p_m)`$ values much different than those at the $`(e,e^{}p)`$ reaction vertex. If these FSI “move” events from a region where the spectral function is large to a region where it is low, these “moved” events can generate cross sections larger than the “native” protons at this $`(E_m,p_m)`$ which did not undergo multistep FSI.

Fig. 5 shows the kinematics in the $`(E_m,p_m)`$ plane for the upper pane of Fig. 3. The dark line shows the “ridge” in the spectral function where the greatest strength is expected. The dashed lines show how multistep FSI move events in the $`(E_m,p_m)`$ plane; reactions with vertex $`(E_m,p_m)`$ values all along the dashed lines can contribute, by undergoing a $`(p,p^{}N)`$ reaction, to the experimental measurement (the box is the experimental acceptance, and the thin solid line gives the central kinematics for which these calculations were performed.) It is clear that for missing energies greater than about 65 MeV, one may expect increasing contributions from multistep FSI to the data. This is a plausible explanation for the calculation’s underprediction of the data for $`E_m>90`$ MeV.

An approved experiment  in Hall C will make measurements on both sides of the “ridge” and in several different types of kinematics, to test whether this effect is indeed important.

## 5 Representative Expected Results at Jefferson Lab

Fig. 6 shows an example of what we hope to achieve at Jefferson Lab. This figure is a calculation for $`{}_{}{}^{4}\text{He}(e,e^{}p)^3\text{H}`$ at a beam energy of 4 GeV. Experiment  in Hall A proposes to measure this reaction in an attempt to observe the spectral-function minimum discussed in relation to Fig. 2. The dashed lines in Fig. 6 are plane-wave calculations; the solid curves include FSI in the framework of the Generalized Eikonal Approximation . The upper curve corresponds to $`y100`$ MeV/*c*, and the bottom curve corresponds to $`y400`$ MeV/*c*. The bottom curve is also computed for parallel kinematics. The calculations display the expected reduction in FSI due to parallel kinematics and large $`y`$ values. Unfortunately, these calculations do not yet include two-body current contributions.

## 6 Outlook

A broad program exists to study $`(e,e^{}p)`$ reactions, with an emphasis on few-body nuclei, at Jefferson Lab. The experiments comprising this program have a new set of tools, courtesy of the large JLab beam energy, with which to (attempt to) force nature to give us clean information about the nuclear spectral function in regions relevant to short-range nuclear dynamics. Parallel kinematics will be an important feature of almost all these experiments. Furthermore, data will be taken at a variety of $`Q^2`$ and $`y`$ settings in an attempt to suppress two-body current contributions to a manageable level.

I have not mentioned two other powerful techniques which will be exploited at Jefferson Lab and elsewhere: response-function separations and multi-nucleon knockout experiments. Both techniques are in principle more selective for accessing the large-momentum one-body current of interest. However, both are experimentally more demanding, thus the program outlined above provides a better starting point for testing our understanding of the $`(e,e^{}p)`$ reaction mechanism at high energies. The results can be used to design more effective response-function separation or multinucleon-knockout experiments.

On the theoretical side, there are many nice frameworks, models and techniques in circulation for computing spectral functions exactly, treating two-body currents, computing FSI at large proton momenta, and so on. However, no one group seems to have all “nice” ingredients. Figure 6 provides a good example; it uses a state-of-the-art spectral function from the Argonne group, and a modern FSI computation, but no two-body currents are included. It is highly unlikely that the program outlined above will suppress reaction effects to the point that PWIA is valid; interpretation of these results will require close collaboration with our theoretical colleagues.

## Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Dr. E. Jans (NIKHEF), spokesperson for the NIKHEF experiment discussed here, for a critical reading of this manuscript and useful suggestions.