The Transverse Electron Scattering Response Function of 3He

TL;DR

This paper calculates the transverse response function of helium-3 using advanced nuclear models and techniques, revealing significant meson-exchange current effects and good agreement with experimental data at certain momentum transfers.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive calculation of R_T for 3He including MEC effects, Coulomb interactions, and final state considerations, using the Lorentz integral transform method.

Findings

MEC effects cause 6-10% enhancement of the quasi-elastic peak.

Neglecting Coulomb force increases R_T by over 10% near threshold.

Good agreement with experimental data at q=250 and 400 MeV/c.

Abstract

The transverse response function R_T(q,omega) for 3He is calculated using the configuration space BonnA nucleon-nucleon potential, the Tucson-Melbourne three-body force, and the Coulomb potential. Final states are completely taken into account via the Lorentz integral transform technique. Non-relativistic one-body currents plus two-body pi- and rho-meson exchange currents as well as the Siegert operator are included. The response R_T is calculated for q=174, 250, 400, and 500 MeV/c and in the threshold region at q=174, 324, and 487 MeV/c. Strong MEC effects are found in low- and high-energy tails, but due to MEC there are also moderate enhancements of the quasi-elastic peak (6%-10%). The calculation is performed both directly and via transformation of electric multipoles to a form that involves the charge operator. The contribution of the latter operator is suppressed in and below the quasielastic peak while at higher energies the charge operator represents almost the whole MEC contribution at the lowest q value. The effect of the Coulomb force in the final state interaction is investigated for the threshold region at q=174 MeV/c. Its neglect enhances R_T by more than 10% in the range up to 2 MeV above threshold. In comparison to experimental data one finds relatively good agreement at q=250 and 400 MeV/c, while at q=500 MeV/c, presumably due to relativistic effects, the theoretical quasi-elastic peak position is shifted to somewhat higher energies. The strong MEC contributions in the threshold region are nicely confirmed by data at q=324 and 487 MeV/c.