We study the occurrence of factorization in polarized and unpolarized
observables in coincidence quasi-elastic electron scattering. Starting with the
relativistic distorted wave impulse approximation, we reformulate the effective
momentum approximation and show that the latter leads to observables which
factorize under some specific conditions. Within this framework, the role
played by final state interactions and, in particular, by the spin-orbit term
is explored. Connection with the nonrelativistic formalism is studied in depth.
Numerical results are presented to illustrate the analytical derivations and to
quantify the differences between factorized and unfactorized approaches.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures. Improved and extended version. To be published
in Phys. Rev.