Explicitly on-shell currents in relativistic mean field models

Abstract

Relativistic mean field models are a useful tool for modeling semi-leptonic scattering and photo production on nuclei. When using free-nucleon currents, it is often claimed that there exist so-called ``off-shell ambiguities''. Here we show that when the current is defined in terms of free-nucleon creation and annihilation operators, all ambiguities related to on-shell vs. off-shell Dirac algebra disappear. Genuine ambiguities persist because the current itself depends on the mean field responsible for nuclear binding; these would be fixed if a consistent background-field dependent current were used. As applications, we consider elastic scattering from a nucleus, and (very large) ambiguities that were previous reported in the literature in the context of coherent pion photoproduction. We explain how these ambiguities are removed by the procedure introduced herein.