Inclusive studies of two- and three-nucleon short-range correlations in ³H and ³He

Inclusive electron scattering at carefully chosen kinematics can isolate scattering from the high-momentum nucleons in short-range correlations (SRCs). SRCs are produced by the hard, short-distance interactions of nucleons in the nucleus, and because the two-nucleon (2N) SRCs arise from the same N-N interaction in all nuclei, the cross section in the SRC-dominated regime is identical up to an overall scaling factor. This scaling behavior has been used to identify SRC dominance and to measure the contribution of SRCs in a wide range of nuclei. We examine this scaling behavior over a range of momentum transfers using new data on ²H, ³H, and ³He, and find an expanded scaling region compared to heavy nuclei. Motivated by this improved scaling, we examine the ³H and ³He data in kinematics where three-nucleon SRCs may play an important role. The data for the largest struck nucleon momenta are consistent with isolation of scattering from three-nucleon SRCs, and suggest that the very highest momentum nucleons in ³He have a nearly isospin-independent momentum configuration.. Authors: Li, S. [Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); et al.] (ORCID:0000000312525392); Santiesteban, S.N.; Arrington, J.; Cruz-Torres, R.; Kurbany, L.. DOE Contract: AC02-05CH11231; AC05-06OR23177; FG02-01ER41168; FG02-88ER40410; FG02-96ER40950; SC0014168. Subjects: 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS