Radiative pion capture in nuclei: a continuum shell-model approach

The radiative pion capture process in nuclei is approached by using a continuum shell-model description of the nucleus, together with a phenomenological treatment of the two particle-two hole effects. It is found that these effects play an important role to reproduce the observed experimental photon energy distribution. This distribution as well as the integrated one depends significantly on the details of the mean field potential. This makes this process interesting to investigate the nuclear structure dynamics.Comment: 21 pages, LateX file + 5 figures, epsf.st

Superscaling and neutral current quasielastic neutrino-nucleus scattering

The superscaling approach is applied to studies of neutral current neutrino reactions in the quasielastic regime. Using input from scaling analyses of electron scattering data, predictions for high-energy neutrino and antineutrino cross sections are given and compared with results obtained using the relativistic Fermi gas model. The influence of strangeness content inside the nucleons in the nucleus is also explored.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

A model of short-range correlations in the charge response

The validity of a model treating the short-range correlations up to the first order is studied by calculating the charge response of an infinite system and comparing the obtained results with those of a Fermi Hypernetted Chain calculation.Comment: 6 pages, 3 Postscript figures, to be published on Phys. Rev.

Role of 2p-2h MEC excitations in superscaling

Following recent studies of inclusive electron scattering from nuclei at high energies which focused on two-nucleon emission mediated by meson-exchange currents, in this work the superscaling behavior of such contributions is investigated. Comparisons are made with existing data below the quasielastic peak where at high momentum transfers scaling of the second kind is known to be excellent and scaling of the first kind is good, in the proximity of the peak where both 1p-1h and 2p-2h contributions come into play, and above the peak where inelasticity becomes important and one finds scaling violations of the two kinds.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures; references adde

Using Electron Scattering Superscaling to predict Charge-changing Neutrino Cross Sections in Nuclei

Superscaling analyses of few-GeV inclusive electron scattering from nuclei are extended to include not only quasielastic processes, but now also into the region where $\Delta$-excitation dominates. It is shown that, with reasonable assumptions about the basic nuclear scaling function extracted from data and information from other studies of the relative roles played by correlation and MEC effects, the residual strength in the resonance region can be accounted for through an extended scaling analysis. One observes scaling upon assuming that the elementary cross section by which one divides the residual to obtain a new scaling function is dominated by the $N\to\Delta$ transition and employing a new scaling variable which is suited to the resonance region. This yields a good representation of the electromagnetic response in both the quasielastic and $\Delta$ regions. The scaling approach is then inverted and predictions are made for charge-changing neutrino reactions at energies of a few GeV, with focus placed on nuclei which are relevant for neutrino oscillation measurements. For this a relativistic treatment of the required weak interaction vector and axial-vector currents for both quasielastic and $\Delta$-excitation processes is presented.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Analysis of Meson Exchange and Isobar Currents in (e,e'p) Reactions from O-16

An analysis of the effects of meson exchange and isobar currents in exclusive (e,e'p) processes from O-16 under quasi-free kinematics is presented. A model that has probed its feasibility for inclusive quasi-elastic (e,e') processes is considered. Sensitivity to final state interactions between the outgoing proton and the residual nucleus is discussed by comparing the results obtained with phenomenological optical potentials and a continuum nuclear shell-model calculation. The contribution of the meson-exchange and isobar currents to the response functions is evaluated and compared to previous calculations, which differ notably from our results. These two-body contributions cannot solve the puzzle of the simultaneous description of the different responses experimentally separated. Copyright 1999 by The American Physical SocietyComment: 5 pages, plus 3 PS figures. To be published in Phys. Rev. C Updated figure

Quasielastic Charged Current Neutrino-nucleus Scattering

We provide integrated cross sections for quasielastic charged-current neutrino-nucleus scattering. Results evaluated using the phenomenological scaling function extracted from the analysis of experimental $(e,e')$ data are compared with those obtained within the framework of the relativistic impulse approximation. We show that very reasonable agreement is reached when a description of final-state interactions based on the relativistic mean field is included. This is consistent with previous studies of differential cross sections which are in accord with the universality property of the superscaling function.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let

The 2p-2h electromagnetic response in the quasielastic peak and beyond

The contribution to the nuclear transverse response function R_T arising from two particle-two hole (2p-2h) states excited through the action of electromagnetic meson exchange currents (MEC) is computed in a fully relativistic framework. The MEC considered are those carried by the pion and by Delta degrees of freedom, the latter being viewed as a virtual nucleonic resonance. The calculation is performed in the relativistic Fermi gas model in which Lorentz covariance can be maintained. All 2p-2h many-body diagrams containing two pionic lines that contribute to R_T are taken into account and the relative impact of the various components of the MEC on R_T is addressed. The non-relativistic limit of the MEC contributions is also discussed and compared with the relativistic results to explore the role played by relativity in obtaining the 2p-2h nuclear response.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures, revtex4; minor modifications in the discussion of the results, references adde