The Generalized Contact Formalism and Short-Range Correlations in Nuclei

Nuclear short-range correlations (SRCs), i.e. the probability of finding few nucleons

close to each other inside the nucleus, are an integral part of the description of

nuclear systems, important for neutrino studies, neutron-star structure and for the

bound nucleon structure function. High-energy electron scattering is the main

experimental technique to probe SRCs, while ab-initio calculations are mostly limited

to nuclear distributions of light nuclei. To study the properties of SRCs and bridge the

gap between experimental and ab-initio studies, we developed a new theory, called the

generalized contact formalism. In this talk we will present the original contact formalism,

designed for atomic systems, and our generalization for nuclear systems.

Using this formalism, we have been able to obtain a comprehensive picture of two-body SRCs,

identifying and quantifying their effects on various nuclear quantities.

Among these quantities are momentum distributions, two-body densities, the spectral function,

the Coulomb sum-rule, photo absorption rates and electron scattering cross sections.

Describing all these quantities and reactions in a single framework allows confronting

electron scattering SRC data with ab-initio nuclear structure calculations and

different nucleon-nucleon interactions. The contact formalism has also become an important

tool used directly by leading experimental groups to simulate their

experiments and analyze their data, leading to new insights based on more detailed

and more accurate experimental data.