Examination of the sensitivity of quasifree reactions to details of the bound-state overlap functions

It is often stated that heavy-ion nucleon knockout reactions are mostly sensitive to the tails of the bound-state wave functions. In contrast, (p, 2p) and (p, pn) reactions are known to access information on the full overlap functions within the nucleus. We analyze the oxygen isotopic chain and explore the differences between singleparticle wave functions generated with potential models, used in the experimental analysis of knockout reactions, and ab initio computations from self-consistent Green's function theory. Contrary to common belief, we find that not only the tail of the overlap functions, but also their internal part is assessed in both reaction mechanisms, which are crucial to yield accurately determined spectroscopic information.

Automated summary

It is commonly believed that heavy-ion nucleon knockout reactions are sensitive to the tails of bound-state wave functions, while (p, 2p) and (p, pn) reactions provide information on full overlap functions within the nucleus. Contrary to this belief, it is found that both reaction mechanisms assess not only the tail but also the internal part of overlap functions, which is crucial for accurately determining spectroscopic information.