arXiv subjects

T. W. Donnelly

Publications and source records attributed to T. W. Donnelly.

136 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv1995

Parity violation in quasielastic electron scattering from closed-shell nuclei

The electromagnetic and weak neutral current matrix elements that enter in the analysis of parity-violating quasielastic electron scattering are calculated using a continuum nuclear shell model. New approximations to the on-shell relativistic one-body currents and relativistic kinematics for use in such models are developed and discussed in detail. Results are presented for three closed-shell nuclei of interest: $^{16}$O, $^{40}$Ca and $^{208}$Pb. The current work concludes with a study of the sensitivity of the resulting parity-violating asymmetries to properties of the nucleon form factors including the possible strangeness content of the nucleon.

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arXiv1995

The Charge Response of a Meson-Correlated Relativistic Fermi Gas

The quasielastic longitudinal electromagnetic response function R_L is studied within the context of a model that extends our previous investigations of pionic correlations and currents. Four mesons are now employed (pion, rho, sigma and omega, via the Bonn potential) and the many-body dynamics are extended to the full random-phase approximation built upon a Hartree-Fock basis. Wherever possible the Lorentz covariance of the problem is respected. The first three energy-weighted moments of the reduced response are computed, namely, the zeroth moment (Coulomb sum rule), the first moment (related to the position of the quasielastic peak) and the second moment (related to the peak width or variance). We discuss how with a modest downward adjustment of the Fermi momentum it is possible to obtain the expected zeroth and second moments; this implies that the nuclear system has a lower density than that required when using the free relativistic Fermi gas and accordingly that the interaction effects are weaker than one might initially find.

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arXiv1994

Many-Body Currents and the Strange-Quark Content of 4he

Meson-exchange current (MEC) contributions to the parity-violating (PV) asymmetry for elastic scattering of polarized electrons from $^4$He are calculated over a range of momentum transfer using Monte Carlo methods and a variational $^4$He ground state wavefunction. The results indicate that MEC's generate a negligible contribution to the asymmetry at low-$|\qv|$, where a determination of the nucleon's mean square strangeness radius could be carried out at CEBAF. At larger values of momentum transfer -- beyond the first diffraction minimum -- two-body corrections from the $ρ$-$π$ \lq\lq strangeness charge" operator enter the asymmetry at a potentially observable level, even in the limit of vanishing strange-quark matrix elements of the nucleon. For purposes of constraining the nucleon's strangeness electric form factor, theoretical uncertainties associated with these MEC contributions do not appear to impose serious limitations.

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arXiv1993

Interference Effects in Relativistic Deuteron Electrodisintegration

We extend the relativistic plane--wave impulse approximation formalism to incorporate a specific class of relativistic interference effects for use in describing inclusive electrodisintegration of $^2$H. The role of these ``exchange'' terms for the various response functions accessible in parity--conserving and --violating inclusive processes is investigated and shown, especially for the latter, to have important consequences for experiment. An extension to a simple quasi--deuteron model is also considered.

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arXiv1993

Meson-Exchange Currents and the Strangeness Radius of 4he

Meson-exchange current contributions to the strangeness radius of $^4$He are computed in the one-boson exchange approximation. It is found that these contributions introduce a $\lapp$10\% correction to the one-body contribution. They should not, therefore, hamper the extraction of the nucleon strangeness radius from the parity-violating electron-$^4$He asymmetry.

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arXiv1993

Polarized Deformed Nuclei Studied via Coincidence Polarized Electron Scattering: The case of 21 Ne

Coincidence reactions of the type $\svec{A}(\svec{e},e'N)B$ involving the scattering of polarized electrons from deformed polarized targets are discussed within the context of the plane--wave impulse approximation. A general expression for the polarized spectral function for transitions leaving the residual nucleus in discrete states is presented. General properties and angular symmetries exhibited by the polarization observables are discussed in detail. Results for unpolarized cross sections as well as for polarization ratios (asymmetries) are obtained for typical quasi--free kinematics. The dependences of the polarization observables on the bound neutron momentum, target polarization orientation, nuclear deformation and value of the momentum transfer $q$ are discussed in detail for various different kinematical situations.

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arXiv1993

Intermediate-Energy Semileptonic Probes of the Hadronic Neutral Current

The present and future prospects of intermediate-energy semileptonic neutral current studies are reviewed. Possibilities for using neutrino and parity-violating electron scattering from nucleons and nuclei to study hadron structure and nuclear dynamics are emphasized, with particular attention paid to probes of the nucleon's strangeness content. Connections are drawn between such studies and tests of electroweak gauge theory using electron or neutrino scattering. Outstanding theoretical issues in the interpretation of semileptonic neutral current measurements are highlighted, and the prospects for undertaking neutrino and parity-violating electron scattering experiments in the near future are surveyed.

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arXiv1993

Parity-Violating Electron Scattering from the Pion-Correlated Relativistic Fermi Gas

Parity-violating quasielastic electron scattering is studied within the context of the relativistic Fermi gas and its extensions to include the effects of pionic correlations and meson-exchange currents. The work builds on previous studies using the same model; here the part of the parity-violating asymmetry that contains axial-vector hadronic currents is developed in detail using those previous studies and a link is provided to the transverse vector-isovector response. Various integrated observables are constructed from the differential asymmetry. These include an asymmetry averaged over the quasielastic peak, as well as the difference of the asymmetry integrated to the left and right of the peak -- the latter is shown to be optimal for bringing out the nature of the pionic correlations. Special weighted integrals involving the differential asymmetry and electromagnetic cross section, based on the concepts of y-scaling and sum rules, are constructed and shown to be suited to studies of the single-nucleon form factor content in the problem, in particular, to determinations of the isovector/axial-vector and electric strangeness form factors. Comparisons are also made with recent predictions made on the basis of relativistic mean-field theory.

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arXiv1993

The Pion in Electromagnetic and Weak Neutral Current Nuclear Response Functions

The impact of pionic correlations and meson--exchange currents in determining the (vector) response functions for electroweak quasielastic lepton scattering from nuclei is discussed. The approach taken builds on previous work where the Fermi gas model is used to maintain consistency in treating forces and currents (gauge invariance) and to provide a Lorentz covariant framework. Results obtained in first-order perturbation theory are compared with infinite-order summation schemes (HF and RPA) and found to provide quite successful approximations for the quasielastic response functions. The role of pionic correlations in hardening the responses R_L and R_T is investigated in some detail, including studies of the relative importance of central and tensor pieces of the force and of exchange and self-energy diagrams; in addition, their role in significantly modifying the longitudinal parity-violating response R_{AV}^L is explored. The MEC are shown to provide a small, but non-negligible, contribution in determining the vector responses.

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arXiv1992

Non-Standard Physics and Nucleon Strangeness in Low-Energy PV Electron Scattering

Contributions from physics beyond the Standard Model, strange quarks in the nucleon, and nuclear structure effects to the left-right asymmetry measured in parity-violating (PV) electron scattering from $\nuc{12}{C}$ and the proton are discussed. It is shown how lack of knowledge of the distribution of strange quarks in the nucleon, as well as theoretical uncertainties associated with higher-order dispersion amplitudes and nuclear isospin-mixing, enter the extraction of new limits on the electroweak parameters $S$ and $T$ from these PV observables. It is found that a series of elastic PV electron scattering measurements using $^{4}$He could significantly constrain the $s$-quark electric form factor if other theoretical issues are resolved. Such constraints would reduce the associated form factor uncertainty in the carbon and proton asymmetries below a level needed to permit extraction of interesting low-energy constraints on $S$ and $T$ from these observables. For comparison, the much smaller scale of $s$-quark contributions to the weak charge measured in atomic PV is quantified. It is likely that only in the case of heavy muonic atoms could nucleon strangeness enter the weak charge at an observable level.

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