Final state interactions and $NN$ correlations: are the latter observable?

Abstract

Are effects of short range correlations in the ground state of the target nucleus (initial state correlations ISC) observable in experiments on quasielastic $A(e,e'p)$ scattering at large missing momentum $p_{m}$? Will the missing momentum spectrum observed at CEBAF be overwhelmed by final state interactions (FSI) of the struck proton? The recent advances in the theory of FSI and findings of complex interplay and strong quantum-mechanical interference of FSI and ISC contributions to scattering at $p_{m}\gsim 1$\,fm$^{-1}$ are reviewed. We conclude that for $p_m \gsim 1$ \, fm$^{-1}$ quasielastic scattering is dominated by FSI effects and the sensitivity to details of the nuclear ground state is lost.