Inclusive electron scattering from nuclei in the quasielastic region at large momentum transfer

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of inclusive electron scattering from various nuclei at high momentum transfer, analyzing the data in terms of response functions and scaling behaviors to understand nuclear structure and quasielastic responses.

Contribution

It provides new experimental data on inclusive electron scattering across multiple nuclei and examines their scaling properties in the quasielastic region at high momentum transfer.

Findings

Approximate scaling of $ u W_2^A$ in $\xi$ for all targets.

Scaling in $x$ is limited to the DIS regime.

Some $y$-scaling violations due to FSIs are observed.

Abstract

Experiment E02-019, performed in Hall C at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), was a measurement of inclusive electron cross sections for several nuclei ($^{2}$H,$^{3}$He, $^{4}$He, $^{9}$Be,$^{12}$C, $^{63}$Cu, and $^{197}$Au) in the quasielastic region at high momentum transfer. In the region of low energy transfer, the cross sections were analyzed in terms of the reduced response, F(y), by examining its $y$-scaling behavior. The data were also examined in terms of the nuclear structure function $\nu W_2^A$ and its behavior in $x$ and the Nachtmann variable $\xi$. The data show approximate scaling of $\nu W_2^A$ in $\xi$ for all targets at all kinematics, unlike scaling in $x$, which is confined to the DIS regime. However, $y$-scaling observations are limited to the kinematic region dominated by the quasielastic response ({$y<$0}), where some scaling violations arising from FSIs are observed.