Relativistically generated asymmetry in the missing momentum distribution from the $(e,e'p)$ reaction

Abstract

We calculate the asymmetry in the missing-momentum distribution from the $(e,e'p)$ reaction in a relativistic formalism. Longitudinal and transverse response functions are evaluated in parallel kinematics as a function of the three-momentum transfer to the nucleus. Analytic expressions for the responses are obtained in a relativistic plane-wave impulse approximation. These expressions reveal a large asymmetry in the momentum distribution, at the plane-wave level, induced by the lower components of the bound-state wave functions. These relativistic effects contaminate any attempt to infer color transparency from a measurement of the asymmetry in the $(e,e'p)$ reaction.