RPWIA analysis of dynamical relativistic contributions in 16O(e→,e′p→) reactions Original Research Article

Coincidence scattering of polarized electrons from nuclei with polarization transfer to outgoing nucleons is studied within the context of relativistic mean field theory. Effects introduced by the dynamical enhancement of the lower components of the bound nucleon wave function are analyzed for the polarized response functions and transferred polarization asymmetries assuming the relativistic plane-wave impulse approximation (RPWIA). Results obtained by projecting out the negative-energy components are compared with the fully relativistic calculation for proton knockout from p1/2 and p3/2 shells in 16O for a variety of kinematic situations. The crucial role played by the relativistic dynamics in some spin-dependent observables is clearly manifested even for low/medium values of the missing momentum. The degree to which knowledge about nucleon form factors can be extracted from analyses of this type of process is also discussed.