Polarized Electron Scattering from Light Nuclei at High Energies

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework using multipole expansion within electroweak theory to analyze polarized electron scattering from light nuclei, revealing polarization effects and weak interaction contributions at various energies and angles.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical approach combining multipole expansion and electroweak theory to study polarized electron scattering from light nuclei.

Findings

Longitudinal polarization and weak interaction are uncorrelated at small angles across energies.

A strong correlation appears at larger angles when electron energy exceeds 10 GeV.

The study enhances understanding of nuclear structure and electron polarization effects.

Abstract

We present a theoretical approach to investigate the scattering of polarized electrons from light nuclei using the multipole expansion for the scattering cross section within the framework of the unified electroweak theory. Scattering processes corresponding to different electron polarizations are analyzed and compared with the unpolarized electron scattering investigated earlier. Besides, the contribution of both polarized and unpolarized terms to the scattering cross section is examined. Numerical calculations for stable $^{6,7}$Li and unstable $^7$Be nuclei using the Weinberg-Salam model show that the longitudinal polarization and weak interaction are not explicitly correlated when electrons scatter at $ \theta \simeq 0^{\circ}$ across all energy scales. A strong correlation emerges at the other scattering angles when the electron energy exceeds 10 GeV. This study provides additional information about nuclear structure and uncovers the role of electron polarization and its correlation with the weak interaction in each process, thus offering a more complete picture of electron-nucleus scattering.