Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: High-momentum ratios measured in the CaFe experiment using high-energy electron scattering off the CaFe nuclei $(i.e.~ {}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}, {}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}, {}^{54}\mathrm{Fe})$ have revealed a surprising correlation between the nuclear shell structure and the high-momentum components generated by short-range and tensor correlations (SRC). The non-local dispersive optical model (DOM) successfully describes the experimentally measured high-momentum ratios while simultaneously describing the nuclear bound-state properties and scattering observables for these CaFe nuclei. The experimentally measured average high-momentum ratio of ${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}$/${}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$ and ${}^{54}\mathrm{Fe}$/${}^{48}\mathrm{Ca}$ are $1.10~\pm~0.02$ and $1.49~\pm~0.03$, respectively. The corresponding DOM results are $1.05~\pm~0.05$ and $1.52~\pm~0.08$, which is the first successful description of these experimental results. The present DOM analysis of CaFe nuclei relied on an extended version of the DOM incorporating a shrinkable geometry to provide a more localized and stronger volume absorption at higher missing energies to correctly represent the SRC physics. The success of the DOM can be attributed to its simultaneous treatment of structure and reaction data, the latter requiring a depletion of the mean-field accompanied by the proper admixture of high-momentum components in the respective ground states.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Ramon, R. A., Atkinson, M. C., Dickhoff, W. H.
Institutions: Washington University in St. Louis, Haverford College
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W7216016114