Unified Description of Electron-Nucleus Scattering within the Spectral Function Formalism.

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Physics
• Particle Physics
• Quantum Chromodynamics

Background:

• Factorization and nuclear spectral functions are key formalisms in nuclear physics.
• Two-nucleon currents significantly influence the nuclear electromagnetic response, particularly in the transverse channel.
• Previous models often neglected or approximated the effects of two-nucleon currents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To generalize the existing formalism to incorporate two-nucleon currents in transition matrix elements.
• To investigate the impact of these currents on the inclusive electron-carbon cross section.
• To explore the implications for neutrino-nucleus cross-section analyses.

Main Methods:

• Generalization of the factorization and nuclear spectral function formalism.
• Calculation of transition matrix elements including two-nucleon currents.
• Comparison of theoretical predictions with experimental data for electron-carbon scattering.

Main Results:

• The inclusion of two-nucleon currents significantly improves the agreement between theoretical calculations and experimental data in the dip region.
• This improvement is observed between the quasielastic and Delta-production peaks in electron-carbon scattering.
• The study provides a more accurate description of nuclear electromagnetic responses.

Conclusions:

• Two-nucleon currents are crucial for accurately describing nuclear electromagnetic responses.
• The generalized formalism offers a more refined approach to nuclear reaction calculations.
• Findings have direct implications for interpreting neutrino-nucleus scattering experiments.