using $^{12}$C$(e,e^\prime p)$ in parallel kinematics [@Rohe04] observed approximately 0.6 protons in a region with $p_m \gtrsim 240$ MeV/$c$ and $E_m \gtrsim 50$ MeV attributable to single-nucleon knockout from correlated clusters. This finding is consistent with the $16\%$ IPSM predicted by Frick [[*et al.* ]{}]{}[@Frick04] using the self-consistent Green’s function (SCGF) method [@Dickhoff04]. Similar estimates of the depletion of hole states are available from the correlated basis function (CBF) theory [@Benhar90] and other methods also. Furthermore, SCGF calculations [@Muther94; @Muther95a] show that the momentum distribution for low-lying quasihole states is hardly affected by short-range correlations, remaining very similar to mean-field calculations, while the momentum distributions for the large-$E_m$ continuum are substantially broadened.

If the occupancy of IPSM orbitals is predicted to be approximately $85\%$ by theories that reproduce the correlated strength at large $(E_m,p_m)$, why is only $65\%$ observed by $(e,e^\prime p)$ experiments? Coupling to collective modes is expected to produce significant fragmentation of the valence quasi-hole strength spread over a range of perhaps 10 MeV, but the extended RPA calculations presently available do not yet reproduce those fragmentation patterns well [@Dickhoff04]. Thus, it is possible that many small fragments are missed experimentally even if they lie within the experimental 