Medium modification of the nucleon axial form factor

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the nucleon axial form factor changes within nuclear matter, revealing significant quenching effects due to the internal quark structure, with implications for nuclear physics models.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent quark meson coupling model to study the medium modification of the nucleon axial form factor.

Findings

Axial form factor is reduced by about 10% at normal nuclear density.

The form factor varies within 8% for moderate momentum transfer.

The internal quark structure significantly influences nucleon properties in nuclear matter.

Abstract

We study the modification of the nucleon axial form factor in nuclear matter. The internal quark substructure of the nucleon is self-consistently described by the quark meson coupling model. We find that the axial form factor of the bound nucleon is quenched considerably from that of the free nucleon. The axial vector coupling constant is reduced by roughly 10% at normal nuclear matter density and the axial form factor varies within 8% for moderate momentum transfer.