EMC effect, short-range correlations in nuclei and neutron stars

The recent x > 1 (e,e') and correlation experiments at momentum transfer Q ² ≥ 2GeV ² confirm presence of shortrange correlations (SRC) in nuclei mostly build of nucleons. Recently we evaluated in a model independent way the dominant photon contribution to the nuclear structure. Taking into account this effect and using definition of x consistent with the exact kinematics of eA scattering (with exact sum rules) results in the significant reduction of R _A(x,Q ²)=F _2A(x,Q ²)/F _2N(x,Q ²) ratio which explains ∼50 of the EMC effect for x ≤ 0.55 where Fermi motion effects are small. The remaining part of the EMC effect at x ≥ 0.5 is consistent with dominance of the contribution of SRCs. Implications for extraction of the F _2n/F _2p ratio are discussed. Smallness of the non-nucleonic degrees of freedom in nuclei matches well the recent observation of a two-solar mass neutron star, and while large pn SRCs lead to enhancement of the neutron star cooling rate for kT ≤ 0.01 MeV.