Nuclear three-body short-range correlations in coordinate space

TL;DR

This paper investigates three-nucleon short-range correlations in nuclei by calculating three-body densities with Monte Carlo methods and analyzing their universal behavior and quantum properties, providing insights relevant for upcoming electron scattering experiments.

Contribution

It extends the Generalized Contact Formalism to include three-body correlations and applies it to analyze novel three-body densities in nuclei.

Findings

Identification of quantum numbers of correlated triplets

Extraction of scaling factors for triplet abundances

Universal behavior of nucleon triplets at short distances

Abstract

We study the effects of three-nucleon short-range correlations on nuclear coordinate-space densities. For this purpose, novel three-body densities are calculated for ground state nuclei using the auxiliary-field diffusion Monte Carlo method. The results are analyzed in terms of the Generalized Contact Formalism, extended to include three-body correlations, revealing the universal behavior of nucleon triplets at short distances. We identify the quantum numbers of such correlated triplets and extract scaling factors of triplet abundances that can be compared to upcoming inclusive electron scattering data.