NUCLEAR MEDIUM EFFECTS IN THE RELATIVISTIC TREATMENT OF QUASI-FREE ELECTRON-SCATTERING

Nonrelativistic reduction of the S matrix for the quasifree electron scattering process A(e,ep)A-1 is studied in order to understand the source of differences between nonrelativistic and relativistic models. We perform an effective Pauli reduction on the relativistic expression for the S matrix in the one-photon exchange approximation. The reduction is applied to the nucleon current only; the electrons are treated fully relativistically. An expansion of the amplitude results in a power series in the nuclear potentials. The series is found to converge rapidly only if the nuclear potentials are included in the nuclear current operator. The results can be cast in a form which reproduces the nonrelativistic amplitudes in the limit that the potentials are removed from the nuclear current operator. Large differences can be found between calculations which do and do not include the nuclear potentials in the different orders of the nuclear current operator. In the high missing momentum region we find that the nonrelativistic calculations with potentials included in the nuclear current up to second order give results which are close to those of the fully relativistic calculation. This behavior is an indication of the importance of the medium modifications of the nuclear currents in this model, which are naturally built into the relativistic treatment of the reaction. © 1995 The American Physical Society.