A sign of three-nucleon short-range correlation from an analysis of nuclear mass and short-range correlation probability

TL;DR

This paper provides evidence for three-nucleon short-range correlations in nuclei by analyzing nuclear mass and SRC probabilities, highlighting the need for high-luminosity experiments to confirm these rare interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to detect 3N SRC signals through correlation analysis of nuclear mass and SRC probabilities, offering new insights into nuclear dynamics.

Findings

Positive sign of 3N SRC detected in various nuclei.

Effective nucleon masses in SRC states are estimated.

3N SRC probability is significantly smaller than 2N SRC.

Abstract

Three-nucleon short-range correlation ($3N$ SRC) represents a rare and intriguing part of the nuclear dynamics at short distance, beyond the two-nucleon short-range correlation ($2N$ SRC). To search its existence is a hot topic in the ongoing and future high-energy nuclear experiments and the developments of nuclear theory. In this study, we found a positive sign of $3N$ SRC in nuclei, by analyzing the correlation between the per-nucleon nuclear mass and the probability of a nucleon in $2N$ SRC state, with the current experimental measurements of $^2$H, $^3$He, $^4$He, $^9$Be, $^{12}$C, $^{27}$Al, $^{56}$Fe, Cu, $^{197}$Au and $^{208}$Pb from SLAC, CLAS, and JLab Hall C collaborations. The effective masses of the nucleons in $2N$ SRC and $3N$ SRC are also extracted from the analysis, which provide some references for the nuclear medium effect study. The probability of $3N$ SRC is much smaller than that of $2N$ SRC, thus requiring high-luminosity experiments to confirm its existence.