2024 Articles

Coherent 𝛾*-nucleus scattering and coherent nuclear states

Mueller, Alfred H.

In the context of a McLerran-Venugopalan (MV) model for a large nucleus, coherent scattering of a virtual photon on that nucleus is evaluated in the 𝐴_ = 0 gauge, the gauge appropriate for the target nucleus. The evaluation of the scattering in 𝐴_ = 0 gauge is very intricate compared to the usual 𝐴+ = 0 gauge evaluation natural for the scattering process, but has the advantage of directly giving the scattering in terms of a partonic description of the nucleus. In the limit where a tagged forward jet puts the dipole-nucleus scattering in the saturation regime the coherent reactions are equal to the inelastic reactions. In terms of the nuclear wave function the coherent reactions come from color singlet and zero total transverse momentum quark-antiquark pairs in the wave function and in the saturation regime the nuclear wave function is a coherent state for these pairs. In the saturation region half of all quarks (or antiquarks) come from zero momentum and color charge pairs.