Nucleon momentum distribution in deuteron and other nuclei within the light-front dynamics method

Abstract

The relativistic light-front dynamics (LFD) method has been shown to give a correct description of the most recent data for the deuteron monopole and quadrupole charge form factors obtained at the Jefferson Laboratory for elastic electron-deuteron scattering for six values of the squared momentum transfer between 0.66 and 1.7 (GeV/c)${}^2$. The good agreement with the data is in contrast with the results of the existing non-relativistic approaches. In this work we firstly make a complementary test of the LFD applying it to calculate another important characteristic, the nucleon momentum distribution $n(q)$ of the deuteron using six invariant functions $f_i$ $(i=1,...,6)$ instead of two ($S$- and $D$-waves) in the nonrelativistic case. The comparison with the $y$-scaling data shows the decisive role of the function $f_5$ which at $q\ge$ 500 MeV/c exceeds all other $f$-functions (as well as the $S$- and $D$-waves) for the correct description of $n(q)$ of the deuteron in the high-momentum region. Comparison with other calculations using $S$- and $D$-waves corresponding to various nucleon-nucleon potentials is made. Secondly, using clear indications that the high-momentum components of $n(q)$ in heavier nuclei are related to those in the deuteron, we develop an approach within the natural orbital representation to calculate $n(q)$ in $(A,Z)$-nuclei on the basis of the deuteron momentum distribution. As examples, $n(q)$ in ${}^4$He, ${}^{12}$C and ${}^{56}$Fe are calculated and good agreement with the $y$-scaling data is obtained.

16 pages, 6 figures, corrected, to appear in Phys. Rev. C in February 2002

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Superscaling analysis of inclusive electron scattering and its extension to charge-changing neutrino-nucleus cross sections beyond the relativistic Fermi gas approach
• Superscaling, Scaling Functions and Nucleon Momentum Distributions in Nuclei
• Two-fermion relativistic bound states in Light-Front Dynamics
• Scaling Function, Spectral Function and Nucleon Momentum Distribution in Nuclei
• Superscaling and Neutral Current Quasielastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering beyond the Relativistic Fermi Gas Model
• Scaling Function and Nucleon Momentum Distribution
• Nucleon momentum distribution of ${}^{56}\text{Fe}$ from the axially deformed relativistic mean-field model with nucleon--nucleon correlations
• Superscaling in dilute Fermi gas and its relation to general properties of the nucleon momentum distribution in nuclei
• Momentum distributions in medium and heavy exotic nuclei
• Connecting scaling with short-range correlations