A new approach to y-scaling and the universal features of scaling functions and nucleon momentum distributions

Some systematic general features of y-scaling structure functions, which are essentially independent of detailed dynamics, are pointed out. Their physical interpretation in terms of general characteristics, such as a mean field description and nucleon-nucleon correlations, is given and their relationship to the momentum distributions illustrated. A new relativistic scaling variable is proposed which incorporates the momentum dependence of the excitation energy of the (A−1) system, with the resulting scaling function being closely related to the longitudinal momentum distributions and being free from removal-energy scaling violating effects.