Selected topics in high energy semi-exclusive electro-nuclear reactions

We review the present status of the theory of high energy reactions with semi-exclusive nucleon electro-production from nuclear targets. We demonstrate how the increase of transferred energies in these reactions opens a completely new window for study of the microscopic nuclear structure at small distances. The simplifications in theoretical descriptions associated with the increase in the energies are discussed. The theoretical framework for calculation of high energy nuclear reactions based on the effective Feynman diagram rules is described in detail. The result of this approach is the generalized eikonal approximation (GEA), which is reduced to the Glauber approximation when nucleon recoil is neglected. The method of GEA is demonstrated in the calculation of high energy electro-disintegration of the deuteron and A = 3 targets. Subsequently, we generalize the obtained formulae for A > 3 nuclei. The relation of GEA to the Glauber theory is analyzed. Then, based on the GEA framework we discuss some of the phenomena which can be studied in exclusive reactions: nuclear transparency and short-range correlations in nuclei. We illustrate how light-cone dynamics of high-energy scattering emerge naturally in high energy electro-nuclear reactions.