Particle Physics Seminar: Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction

Abstract:

Studying the strong nuclear interaction is a formidable task. Measurements of elastic nucleon-nucleon scattering place stringent constraints on the nucleon-nucleon interaction up to pion production threshold, experimental constraints at higher-energies (shorter distances) are sparse. In this talk I will discuss how new constraints on the strong nuclear interaction can be obtained by probing strongly-interacting short-distance correlated nucleon pairs. Focusing on electro-induced proton and neutron knockout reactions, I will show our mapping of the transition in the short-distance nuclear interaction from a Tensor to Scalar. Next, turning to the full many-body system, I will show how such measurements can be extended to observe a transition in the many-body wave function from single-nucleon to correlated pair-dominance and discuss its implications. 

Seminar Organizers: Prof. Erez Etzion & Dr. Liron Barak