Many-body soliton dynamics: Modification of nucleon properties in nuclei

Abstract

We propose a model of nuclear structure in which the degrees of freedom are quarks and mesonic fields. The quarks are organized into nucleons which interact via the exchange of mesons (σ,π,ρ,ω). The model is so structured as to reproduce the results of recently developed relativistic models of nuclear structure in which the degrees of freedom are nucleons and mesons. The model used to describe nucleon structure is taken from a previous work in which a fully covariant (soliton) model of the nucleon was developed. The model also allows one to consider the dynamics of solitons in the presence of the fields generated by other solitons. This feature enables us to investigate the modification of nucleon properties when the nucleon is inside a nucleus. Our central result is the prediction that nucleons will be bigger in the nucleus than in free space. Evidence for this modification of nucleon properties is discussed. We consider deep inelastic electron scattering from nuclei: We discuss the European-Muon-Collaboration effect and some recent (e,e’) experiments and relate the experimental results to our prediction of modified nucleon radii and form factors.