Light front nuclear physics: Toy models, static sources, and tilted light front coordinates - art. no. 025206

The principles behind the detailed results of a light-front mean field theo ry of finite nuclei are elucidated by deriving the nucleon mode equation us ing a simple general argument, based on the idea that a static source in eq ual time coordinates corresponds to a moving source in light front coordina tes. This idea also allows us to solve several simple toy model examples: s calar field in a box, (1+1)-dimensional bag model, three-dimensional harmon ic oscillator and the Hulthen potential. The latter provide simplified vers ions of momentum distributions and form factors of relevance to experiments . In particular, the relativistic correction to the mean square radius of a nucleus is shown to be very small. Solving these simple examples suggests another more general approach-the use of tilted light front coordinates. Th e simple examples are made even simpler.