Longitudinal form factors of $A\le 10$ nuclei in a chiral effective field theory approach

Abstract

In this work, we present the elastic electron scattering longitudinal form factors of $A\le 10$ nuclei computed in a variational Monte Carlo approach. We employ the Norfolk family of local chiral interactions and a consistent electromagnetic charge operator. Our calculations are compared both to data and past theoretical evaluations. This work represents, to our knowledge, the first exact many-body calculation of longitudinal form factors in the $7\le A\le 10$ mass range. Finally, we identify ${}^9$Be and ${}^{10}$B as candidate targets for renewed experimental interest, as they exhibit the potential to provide more stringent constraints on the theoretical models.

12 pages, 6 figures