12C(e,e'pN) measurements of short range correlations in the tensor-to-scalar interaction transition region

• Published in: Physics letters. B 2021-09, Vol.820, p.136523, Article 136523
• Main Authors: Korover, I., Pybus, J.R., Hauenstein, F., Duer, M., Hen, O., Weinstein, L.B., Higinbotham, D.W., Adhikari, S., Atac, H., Barion, L., Battaglieri, M., Beck, A., Bianconi, A., Biselli, A.S., Boiarinov, S., Briscoe, W.J., Brooks, W.K., Bulumulla, D., Burkert, V.D., Carman, D.S., Celentano, A., Clark, L., Cole, P.L., Contalbrigo, M., Cruz-Torres, R., De Vita, R., Defurne, M., Deur, A., Diehl, S., Djalali, C., Dupre, R., Ehrhart, M., El Alaoui, A., El Fassi, L., Elouadrhiri, L., Eugenio, P., Filippi, A., Forest, T., Gavalian, G., Gothe, R.W., Griffioen, K.A., Hafidi, K., Hakobyan, H., Hattawy, M., Holtrop, M., Ilieva, Y., Jenkins, D., Jo, H.S., Joosten, S., Khachatryan, M., Khanal, A., Khandaker, M., Kim, A., Kim, C.W., Klein, F.J., Kubarovsky, V., Lanza, L., Leali, M., Lenisa, P., Lucherini, V., Marchand, D., Markov, N., Mascagna, V., McKinnon, B., Mirazita, M., Munoz Camacho, C., Mustapha, B., Nadel-Turonski, P., Neupane, K., Niculescu, G., Ostrovidov, A.I., Pappalardo, L.L., Paremuzyan, R., Price, J.W., Protopopescu, D., Raue, B.A., Ripani, M., Rizzo, A., Rosner, G., Sabatié, F., Salgado, C., Schumacher, R.A., Segarra, E.P., Sharabian, Y.G., Shrestha, U., Sokhan, D., Stepanyan, S., Strakovsky, I.I., Strauch, S., Tan, J.A., Ungaro, M., Venturelli, L., Voskanyan, H., Wang, T., Wei, X., Wood, M.H., Zachariou, N., Zhang, J., Zhao, Z.W., Zheng, X.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
• ISSN: 0370-2693; 1873-2445
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2021.136523

High-momentum configurations of nucleon pairs at short-distance are probed using measurements of the 12C(e,e′p) and 12C(e,e′pN) reactions (where N is either n or p), at high-Q2 and xB>1.1. The data span a missing-momentum range of 300–1000 MeV/c and are predominantly sensitive to the transition region of the strong nuclear interaction from a Tensor to Scalar interaction. The data are well reproduced by theoretical calculations using the Generalized Contact Formalism with both chiral and phenomenological nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction models. This agreement suggests that the measured high missing-momentum protons up to 1000 MeV/c predominantly belong to short-ranged correlated (SRC) pairs. The measured 12C(e,e′pN) / 12C(e,e′p) and 12C(e,e′pp) / 12C(e,e′pn) cross-section ratios are consistent with a decrease in the fraction of proton-neutron SRC pairs and increase in the fraction of proton-proton SRC pairs with increasing missing momentum. This confirms the transition from an isospin-dependent tensor NN interaction at ∼400 MeV/c to an isospin-independent scalar interaction at high-momentum around ∼800 MeV/c as predicted by theoretical calculation.