Ambiguities in the implementation of the impulse approximation for the response of many-fermion systems.

Within the impulse approximation, the response of a many-body system at large momentum transfer can be directly related to ground state properties. Although the physics assumptions underlying impulse approximation are well defined, their implementation involves ambiguities that may cause significant differences in the calculated responses. We show that, while minimal use of the impulse approximation assumptions naturally leads to write the response in terms of the spectral function, the alternative definition in terms of the momentum distribution involves a more extended use of the same assumptions.