Density dependence of quasifree single-nucleon knockout reactions

Abstract

We address the issue of whether quasifree single-nucleon knockout measurements carry sufficient information about the nuclear interior. To this end, we present comparisons of the reaction probability densities for A(e,e 'p) and A(p,2p) in quasifree kinematics for the target nuclei He4, C12, Fe56, and Pb208. We adopt a comprehensive framework based on the impulse approximation and on a relativized extension of Glauber multiple-scattering reaction theory in which the medium effects related to short-range correlations (SRCs) are implemented. It is demonstrated that SRCs weaken the effect of attenuation. For light target nuclei, both the quasifree (p,2p) and (e,e 'p) can probe average densities of the same order as nuclear saturation density ρ0. For heavy nuclei such as Pb208, the probed average densities are smaller than 0.1ρ0 and the (e,e 'p) reaction is far more efficient in probing the bulk regions than (p,2p).© 2011 American Physical Society.