The scaling functions f (ψ ′ ) and F (y) from the ψ ′ -and y-scaling analyses of inclusive electron scattering from nuclei are explored within the coherent density fluctuation model (CDFM). In addition to the CDFM formulation in which the local density distribution is used, we introduce a new equivalent formulation of the CDFM based on the one-body nucleon momentum distribution (NMD). Special attention is paid to the different ways in which the excitation energy of the residual system is taken into account in y-and ψ ′ -scaling. Both functions, f (ψ ′ ) and F (y), are calculated using different NMD's and are compared with the experimental data for a wide range of nuclei.The good description of the data for y < 0 and ψ ′ < 0 (including ψ ′ < −1) makes it possible to show the sensitivity of the calculated scaling functions to the peculiarities of the NMD's in different regions of momenta. It is concluded that the existing data on the ψ ′ -and y-scaling are informative for the NMD's at momenta not larger than 2.0 ÷ 2.5 fm −1 . The CDFM allows us to study simultaneously on the same footing the role of both basic quantities, the momentum and density distributions, for the description of scaling and superscaling phenomena in nuclei.

We construct a scaling function f͑Ј͒ for inclusive electron scattering from nuclei within the coherent density fluctuation model (CDFM). The latter is a natural extension to finite nuclei of the relativistic Fermi gas model within which the scaling variable Ј was introduced by Donnelly and collaborators. The calculations show that the high-momentum components of the nucleon momentum distribution in the CDFM and their similarity for different nuclei lead to quantitative description of the superscaling in nuclei. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data for different transfer momenta showing superscaling for negative values of Ј, including those smaller than −1.

Superscaling analyses of inclusive electron scattering from nuclei are extended from the quasielastic processes to the delta-excitation region. The calculations of both quasielastic and delta longitudinal and transverse response functions as well as of (e, e) cross sections for 12 C at various incident electron energies are performed in approaches going beyond the mean-field approximation, such as the coherent density fluctuation model and that one based on the light-front dynamics method. The obtained scaling functions are used to predict charge-changing neutrino-nucleus cross sections. The analysis makes it possible to gain information about the nucleon correlation effects on both basic quantities of the nuclear ground state, the local density and the nucleon momentum distributions.

The link between the scaling function extracted from the analysis of (e, e ) cross sections and the spectral function/momentum distribution in nuclei is revisited. Several descriptions of the spectral function based on the independent particle model are employed, together with the inclusion of nucleon correlations, and effects of the energy dependence arising from the width of the hole states are investigated. Although some of these approaches provide rough overall agreement with data, they are not found to be capable of reproducing one of the distinctive features of the experimental scaling function, namely its asymmetry. However, the addition of final-state interactions, incorporated in the present study using either relativistic mean-field theory or via a complex optical potential, does lead to asymmetric scaling functions in accordance with data. The present analysis seems to indicate that final-state interactions constitute an essential ingredient and are required to provide a proper description of the experimental scaling function.