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

Korover, I.; Pybus, J. R.; Schmidt, A.; Hauenstein, F.; Duer, M.; Hen, O.; Piasetzky, E.; Weinstein, L. B.; Higinbotham, D. W.; Adhikari, S.; Adhikari, K.; Amaryan, M. J.; Angelini, G.; Atac, H.; Barion, L.; Battaglieri, M.; Beck, A.; Bedlinskiy, I.; Benmokhtar, F.; Bianconi, A.; Biselli, A. S.; Boiarinov, S.; Briscoe, W. J.; Brooks, W. K.; Bulumulla, D.; Burkert, V. D.; Carman, D. S.; Celentano, A.; Chatagnon, P.; Chetry, T.; Clark, L.; Clary, B.; Cole, P. L.; Contalbrigo, M.; Crede, V.; Cruz-Torres, R.; D'Angelo, A.; De Vita, R.; Defurne, M.; Denniston, A.; Deur, A.; Diehl, S.; Djalali, C.; Dupre, R.; Egiyan, H.; Ehrhart, M.; El Alaoui, A.; El Fassi, L.; Elouadrhiri, L.; Eugenio, P.; Fersch, R.; Filippi, A.; Forest, T.; Gavalian, G.; Girod, F. X.; Golovatch, E.; Gothe, R. W.; Griffioen, K. A.; Guidal, M.; Hafidi, K.; Hakobyan, H.; Harrison, N.; Hattawy, M.; Hayward, T. B.; Heddle, D.; Hicks, K.; Holtrop, M.; Ilieva, Y.; Ireland, D. G.; Isupov, E. L.; Jenkins, D.; H. S., Jo; Joo, K.; Joosten, S.; Keller, D.; Khachatryan, M.; Khanal, A.; Khandaker, M.; Kim, A.; Kim, C. W.; Klein, F. J.; Kubarovsky, V.; Lanza, L.; Leali, M.; Lenisa, P.; Livingston, K.; Lucherini, V.; Macgregor, I. J. D.; Marchand, D.; Markov, N.; Marsicano, L.; Mascagna, V.; Mckinnon, B.; Mey-Tal Beck, S.; Mineeva, T.; Mirazita, M.; Movsisyan, A.; Munoz Camacho, C.; Mustapha, B.; Nadel-Turonski, P.; Neupane, K.; Niculescu, G.; Osipenko, M.; Ostrovidov, A. I.; Paolone, M.; Pappalardo, L. L.; Paremuzyan, R.; Pasyuk, E.; Phelps, W.; Pogorelko, O.; Price, J. W.; Prok, Y.; Protopopescu, D.; Raue, B. A.; Ripani, M.; Ritman, J.; Rizzo, A.; Rosner, G.; Rowley, J.; Sabatie, F.; Salgado, C.; Schumacher, R. A.; Segarra, E. P.; Sharabian, Y. G.; Shrestha, U.; Sokhan, D.; Soto, O.; Sparveris, N.; Stepanyan, S.; Strakovsky, I. I.; Strauch, S.; Tan, J. A.; Tyler, N.; Ungaro, M.; Venturelli, L.; Voskanyan, H.; Voutier, E.; Wang, T.; Watts, D.; Wei, X.; Wood, M. H.; Zachariou, N.; Zhang, J.; Zhao, Z. W.; Zheng, X.

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.