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Benchmark study of the relativistic plane wave impulse approximation for polarized (p⃗,2p⃗) reactions on the 3s1/2 state in Pb208 at 392MeV

T. Mello*, G. C. Hillhouse, and J. P. W. Diener

  • *Contact author: mt17000947@biust.ac.bw
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Phys. Rev. C 113, 064609 – Published 15 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cmyg-pfsw

Abstract

The relativistic plane wave impulse approximation (RPWIA) is benchmarked against the established relativistic distorted wave impulse approximation (RDWIA) for exclusive proton-induced proton knockout reactions (p⃗,2p⃗) from the 3s1/2 state in Pb208 at 392MeV. While the RDWIA provides a proper description of the reaction, the RPWIA—which neglects nuclear distortion and absorption effects—fails dramatically for absolute cross sections, requiring a scaling factor of 1/26 to match the data. However, within ±10MeV of the recoilless condition, the RPWIA quantitatively describes the analyzing power (Ay) data and yields similar results as the RDWIA predictions for all polarization transfer observables (Di′j). These polarization transfer observables are insensitive to the choice of the Relativistic Mean Field model used. The study establishes clear boundaries for the RPWIA's utility: Computationally simple predictions for polarization observables near zero recoil, but essential reliance on the RDWIA for spectroscopic factor extraction.

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Phys. Rev. C 113, 064609– Published 15 June, 2026
  • Received 4 September 2025
  • Revised 10 February 2026
  • Accepted 26 May 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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