Probing Few-Body Nuclear Dynamics via <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">H</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mrow><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:mrow></mml:math> and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mrow><mml:mi>He</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mrow><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:mrow></mml:math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo><mml:mi>e</mml:mi><mml:mo>,</mml:mo><mml:msup><mml:mrow><mml:mi>e</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mo>′</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:msup><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo><mml:mi>pn</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math> Cross-Section Measurements
R. Cruz-Torres, D. Nguyen, F. Hauenstein, A. Schmidt, S. Li, D. Abrams, H. Al-Bataineh, S. Alsalmi, D. Androić, K. Aniol, W. Armstrong, J. Arrington, H. Ataç, T. Averett, C. Ayerbe Gayoso, X. Bai, J. Bane, S. Barcus, A. Beck, Vincenzo Bellini, F. Benmokhtar, H. Bhatt, D. Bhetuwal, D. Biswas, D. Blyth, W. Boeglin, D. Bulumulla, A. Camsonne, J. Castillo Castellanos, Jenhui Chen, O. Hen, S. Covrig, K. Craycraft, B. Dongwi, M. Duer, B. Duran, D. Dutta, E. Fuchey, C. Gal, T. Gautam, S. Gilad, K. Gnanvo, T. Gogami, J. Golak, J. Gómez, C. Gu, A. Habarakada, T. J. Hague, O. Hansen, M. Hattawy, O. Hen, D. W. Higinbotham, E. Hughes, C. E. Hyde-Wright, H. Ibrahim, Siyu Jian, S. Joosten, H. Kamada, A. Karki, B. Karki, A. T. Katramatou, C. Keppel, M. Khachatryan, V. Khachatryan, A. Khanal, David E. King, P. M. King, I. Korover, T. Kutz, N. Lashley-Colthirst, G. Laskaris, W. Li, Haibo Liu, N. Liyanage, P. Markowitz, R. E. McClellan, D. Meekins, S. Mey-Tal Beck, Z.-E. Meziani, R. Michaels, M. Mihovilovič, V. Nelyubin, N. Nuruzzaman, M. Nycz, Richard Obrecht, M. Olson, Li Ou, V. Owen, B. Pandey, V. Pandey, A. Papadopoulou, S. Park, M. Patsyuk, Sebouh J. Paul, G. G. Petratos, E. Piasetzky, R. Pomatsalyuk, S. Premathilake, A. J. R. Puckett, V. Punjabi
Abstract
We report the first measurement of the (e,e^{'}p) three-body breakup reaction cross sections in helium-3 (^{3}He) and tritium (^{3}H) at large momentum transfer [⟨Q^{2}⟩≈1.9 (GeV/c)^{2}] and x_{B}>1 kinematics, where the cross section should be sensitive to quasielastic (QE) scattering from single nucleons. The data cover missing momenta 40≤p_{miss}≤500 MeV/c that, in the QE limit with no rescattering, equals the initial momentum of the probed nucleon. The measured cross sections are compared with state-of-the-art ab initio calculations. Overall good agreement, within ±20%, is observed between data and calculations for the full p_{miss} range for ^{3}H and for 100≤p_{miss}≤350 MeV/c for ^{3}He. Including the effects of rescattering of the outgoing nucleon improves agreement with the data at p_{miss}>250 MeV/c and suggests contributions from charge-exchange (SCX) rescattering. The isoscalar sum of ^{3}He plus ^{3}H, which is largely insensitive to SCX, is described by calculations to within the accuracy of the data over the entire p_{miss} range. This validates current models of the ground state of the three-nucleon system up to very high initial nucleon momenta of 500 MeV/c.