[Clascomment] OPT-IN: Probing High Momentum Protons and Neutrons in Asymmetric Nuclei

[Mikhail Osipenko]

Dear Authors of SRC paper,

first of all let me congratulate you with another interesting result on nuclear physics, which is somehow scarce in CLAS. Very nice graphics and Fig.2 result seem to be promising although essentially based on one nucleus (Pb) only.

Instead, I have a naive interpretation question about Fig.3: although the shell model reasoning given in text is well explained it lacks any mentioning of Coulomb interaction. Naively (I am not a theoretician) I would expect that increasing Z of the nucleus from 6 to 82 will lead to a significant bending of proton shells upward since Coulomb binding term of lead reaches 9.5 MeV per proton (if I am not messed with Weizsacker formula) or about 30% of Fermi energy (similar to 50% you observe). Therefore even without SRC I would expect protons run faster in Pb. Thus if in Fig.3 you put on X-axis Z, instead of N/Z, and consider that P~sqrt(E_coulomb~Z^2)~Z perhaps you will come to a simpler explanation of data. Am I missing something?

Best Regards,

                             Mikhail.