Electron-nucleon interaction in quasi-free scattering: (I). Non-relativistic Hamiltonian through second order

In the frame of a program aiming at examining the approximations involved in the theoretical treatment of (e, e′p) reactions, the electron-nucleon interaction producing the knock-out mechanism is considered in the non-relativistic approach of McVoy and Van Hove and compared with the relativistic one based on the one-photon-exchange Feynman graph. In this paper the non-relativistic Hamiltonian through second order in the nucleon recoil velocity is adopted; in the next paper higher order terms are included. The two approaches appear equivalent as far as the usual DWIA cross section is concerned, where a factorization occurs between the electron-nucleon cross section and the nucleon momentum distribution. However the unfactorized DWIA cross section behaves differently. This is attributed to a different off-shell behaviour of the two scattering amplitudes.