The large momentum transfer reaction 12C(p,2p + n) as a new method for measuring short range NN correlations in nuclei

The reaction 12C(p,2p + n) was measured for momentum transfers of 4.8 and 6.2 (GeV/c)2 at beam momenta of 5.9 and 7.5 GeV/c. We measured the quasi-elastic reaction (p,2p) at θcm ⋍ 90°, in a kinematically complete measurement. The neutron momentum was measured in triple coincidence with the two emerging high momentum protons. We present the correlation between the momenta of the struck target proton and the neutron. The events are associated with the high momentum components of the nuclear wave function. We present sparse data which, combined with a quasi elastic description of the (p,2p) reaction and kinematical arguments, point to a novel way for isolating two-nucleon short range correlations.