Hadrons in the Nuclear Medium

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nucleon properties are altered within the nuclear medium by analyzing recent experimental data on proton recoil polarization, providing constraints on theoretical models of nuclear modifications.

Contribution

It presents high-precision experimental results that test and constrain QCD-based models predicting medium modifications of nucleon structure functions and form factors.

Findings

Data successfully constrains model calculations

Relativistic calculations match polarization transfer ratios

Evidence supports medium modifications of proton form factors

Abstract

Nucleon properties are modified in the nuclear medium. To understand these modifications and their origin is a central issue in nuclear physics. For example, a wide variety of QCD-based models, including quark-meson coupling and chiral-quark soliton models, predict that the nuclear constituents change properties with increasing density. These changes are predicted to lead to observable changes in the nucleon structure functions and electromagnetic form factors. We present results from a series of recent experiments at MAMI and Jefferson Lab, which measured the proton recoil polarization in the 4He(e,e'p)3H reaction to test these predictions. These results, with the most precise data at Q^2 = 0.8 (GeV/c)^2 and at 1.3 (GeV/c)^2 from E03-104, put strong constraints on available model calculations, such that below Q^2 = 1.3 (GeV/c)^2 the measured ratios of polarization-transfer are successfully described in a fully relativistic calculation when including a medium modification of the proton form factors or, alternatively, by strong charge-exchange final-state interactions. We also discuss possible extensions of these studies with measurements of the 4He(e,e'p)3H and 2H(e,e'p)n reactions as well as with the neutron knockout in 4He(e,e'n)3He.