Results and Prospects of Few-Body System Structure Studies

Abstract

This paper presents a selected review of the (e,e'p) experimental program recently completed at the Jefferson Laboratory in the domain of high momentum transfer and high recoil momentum. Particular emphasis is put on the current understanding of the reaction mechanisms and of the large final state interaction effects. Their consequences on the study of the nuclear wave function and nucleon-nucleon correlations are addressed. The short and long term future of the (e,e'p) experimental program is also discussed in the perspective of the study of the quark and gluon structure of nucleons and nuclei.