Proton momentum distribution in nuclei beyond helium-4

Proton momentum distributions of the ^{12}C, ^{16}O, ^{40}Ca, ^{56}Fe and ^{208}Pb nuclei are calculated by a model using the natural orbital representation and the experimental data for the momentum distribution of the ^{4}He nucleus. The model allows realistic momentum distributions to be obtained using only hole-state natural orbitals (or mean-field single-particle wave functions as a good approximation to them). To demonstrate the model two different sets of wave functions were employed and the predictions were compared with the available empirical data and other theoretical results