Coherent Vector Meson Production from Deuterons

In this paper we discuss coherent photo- and leptoproduction of vector mesons from deuterons at intermediate (virtual) photon energies, 3 < nu < 30 GeV. We consider the scattering from unpolarized and polarized targets as well as processes where the polarization of the recoil deuteron is measured. Our main motivation results from the need for a quantitative analysis of the space-time structure of photon-induced processes. In this respect we suggest several possibilities to explore the characteristic longitudinal interaction length in coherent vector meson production. Furthermore, we outline methods for an investigation of color coherence effects. In addition to the presentation of benchmark values for the maximal possible color coherence effect in various kinematic regions, we illustrate the anticipated phenomena within the color diffusion model. Finally we recall that the determination of vector meson-nucleon cross sections is not a closed issue. Besides being not known to a satisfying accuracy, they can be used to determine the strength of the D-state in low mass vector mesons.Comment: LaTeX, 22 page

Hard breakup of the deuteron into two Delta-isobars

We study high energy photodisintegration of the deuteron into two $\Delta$-isobars at large center of mass angles within the QCD hard rescattering model (HRM). According to the HRM, the process develops in three main steps: the photon knocks the quark from one of the nucleons in the deuteron; the struck quark rescatters off a quark from the other nucleon sharing the high energy of the photon; then the energetic quarks recombine into two outgoing baryons which have large transverse momenta. Within the HRM, the cross section is expressed through the amplitude of $pn\rightarrow \Delta\Delta$ scattering which we evaluated based on the quark-interchange model of hard hadronic scattering. Calculations show that the angular distribution and the strength of the photodisintegration is mainly determined by the properties of the $pn\rightarrow \Delta\Delta$ scattering. We predict that the cross section of the deuteron breakup to $\Delta^{++}\Delta^{-}$ is 4-5 times larger than that of the breakup to the $\Delta^{+}\Delta^{0}$ channel. Also, the angular distributions for these two channels are markedly different. These can be compared with the predictions based on the assumption that two hard $\Delta$-isobars are the result of the disintegration of the preexisting $\Delta\Delta$ components of the deuteron wave function. In this case, one expects the angular distributions and cross sections of the breakup in both $\Delta^{++}\Delta^{-}$ and $\Delta^{+}\Delta^{0}$ channels to be similar.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Coherent Vector Meson Photo-Production from Deuterium at Intermediate Energies

We analyze the cross section for vector meson photo-production off a deuteron for the intermediate range of photon energies starting at a few GeVs above the threshold and higher. We reproduce the steps in the derivation of the conventional non-relativistic Glauber expression based on an effective diagrammatic method while making corrections for Fermi motion and intermediate energy kinematic effects. We show that, for intermediate energy vector meson production, the usual Glauber factorization breaks down and we derive corrections to the usual Glauber method to linear order in longitudinal nucleon momentum. The purpose of our analysis is to establish methods for probing interesting physics in the production mechanism for phi-mesons and heavier vector mesons. We demonstrate how neglecting the breakdown of Glauber factorization can lead to errors in measurements of basic cross sections extracted from nuclear data.Comment: 41 pages, 13 figures, figure 9 is compressed from previous version, typos fixe

Hard probes of short-range nucleon-nucleon correlations

One of the primary goals of nuclear physics is providing a complete description of the structure of atomic nuclei. While mean-field calculations provide detailed information on the nuclear shell structure for a wide range of nuclei, they do not capture the complete structure of nuclei, in particular the impact of small, dense structures in nuclei. The strong, short-range component of the nucleon-nucleon potential yields hard interactions between nucleons which are close together, generating a high-momentum tail to the nucleon momentum distribution, with momenta well in excess of the Fermi momentum. This high-momentum component of the nuclear wave-function is one of the most poorly understood parts of nuclear structure. Utilizing high-energy probes, we can isolate scattering from high-momentum nucleons, and use these measurements to examine the structure and impact of short-range nucleon-nucleon correlations. Over the last decade we have moved from looking for evidence of such short-range structures to mapping out their strength in nuclei and examining their isospin structure. This has been made possible by high-luminosity and high-energy accelerators, coupled with an improved understanding of the reaction mechanism issues involved in studying these structures. We review the general issues related to short-range correlations, survey recent experiments aimed at probing these short-range structures, and lay out future possibilities to further these studies.Comment: Review article to appear in Prog.Part.Nucl.Phys. 77 pages, 33 figure

Hadrons in the Nuclear Medium

Quantum Chromodynamics, the microscopic theory of strong interactions, has not yet been applied to the calculation of nuclear wave functions. However, it certainly provokes a number of specific questions and suggests the existence of novel phenomena in nuclear physics which are not part of the the traditional framework of the meson-nucleon description of nuclei. Many of these phenomena are related to high nuclear densities and the role of color in nucleonic interactions. Quantum fluctuations in the spatial separation between nucleons may lead to local high density configurations of cold nuclear matter in nuclei, up to four times larger than typical nuclear densities. We argue here that experiments utilizing the higher energies available upon completion of the Jefferson Laboratory energy upgrade will be able to probe the quark-gluon structure of such high density configurations and therefore elucidate the fundamental nature of nuclear matter. We review three key experimental programs: quasi-elastic electro-disintegration of light nuclei, deep inelastic scattering from nuclei at $x>1$, and the measurement of tagged structure functions. These interrelated programs are all aimed at the exploration of the quark structure of high density nuclear configurations. The study of the QCD dynamics of elementary hard processes is another important research direction and nuclei provide a unique avenue to explore these dynamics. We argue that the use of nuclear targets and large values of momentum transfer at would allow us to determine whether the physics of the nucleon form factors is dominated by spatially small configurations of three quarks.Comment: 52 pages IOP style LaTex file and 20 eps figure

Hard Photodisintegration of a Proton Pair

We present a study of high energy photodisintegration of proton-pairs through the gamma + 3He -> p+p+n channel. Photon energies from 0.8 to 4.7 GeV were used in kinematics corresponding to a proton pair with high relative momentum and a neutron nearly at rest. The s-11 scaling of the cross section, as predicted by the constituent counting rule for two nucleon photodisintegration, was observed for the first time. The onset of the scaling is at a higher energy and the cross section is significantly lower than for deuteron (pn pair) photodisintegration. For photon energies below the scaling region, the scaled cross section was found to present a strong energy-dependent structure not observed in deuteron photodisintegration.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, for submission to Phys. Lett.

Recent observation of short range nucleon correlations in nuclei and their implications for the structure of nuclei and neutron stars

Novel processes probing the decay of nucleus after removal of a nucleon with momentum larger than Fermi momentum by hard probes finally proved unambiguously the evidence for long sought presence of short-range correlations (SRCs) in nuclei. In combination with the analysis of large $Q^2$, A(e,e')X processes at $x>1$ they allow us to conclude that (i) practically all nucleons with momenta $\ge$ 300 MeV/c belong to SRCs, consisting mostly of two nucleons, ii) probability of such SRCs in medium and heavy nuclei is $\sim 25$, iii) a fast removal of such nucleon practically always leads to emission of correlated nucleon with approximately opposite momentum, iv) proton removal from two-nucleon SRCs in 90% of cases is accompanied by a removal of a neutron and only in 10% by a removal of another proton. We explain that observed absolute probabilities and the isospin structure of two nucleon SRCs confirm the important role that tensor forces play in internucleon interactions. We find also that the presence of SRCs requires modifications of the Landau Fermi liquid approach to highly asymmetric nuclear matter and leads to a significantly faster cooling of cold neutron stars with neutrino cooling operational even for $N_p/N_n \le 0.1$. The effect is even stronger for the hyperon stars. Theoretical challenges raised by the discovered dominance of nucleon degrees of freedom in SRCs and important role of the spontaneously broken chiral symmetry in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) in resolving them are considered. We also outline directions for future theoretical and experimental studies of the physics relevant for SRCs.Comment: 74 pages. Review article, updated version to be published in International Journal of Modern Physics

QCD Rescattering and High Energy Two-Body Photodisintegration of the Deuteron

Photon absorption by a quark in one nucleon followed by its high momentum transfer interaction with a quark in the other may produce two final-state nucleons with high relative momentum. We sum the relevant quark rescattering diagrams, to show that the scattering amplitude depends on a convolution between the large angle $pn$ scattering amplitude, the hard photon-quark interaction vertex and the low-momentum deuteron wave function. The computed absolute values of the cross section are in reasonable agreement with the data.Comment: 4 pages, revised version to be published in Phys. Rev. Let