Elastic Nd scattering at intermediate energies as a tool for probing the short-range deuteron structure

TL;DR

This paper investigates elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering at intermediate energies to explore the short-range structure of the deuteron, comparing different theoretical models and using an optical potential approach.

Contribution

It introduces a model-independent optical potential framework to analyze scattering, comparing wave-functions from Bonn-CD and dressed bag quark models.

Findings

Calculated polarization observables and cross-sections at 270 and 880 MeV.

Comparison shows differences between wave-function models.

Optical potential approach effectively probes short-range deuteron structure.

Abstract

A calculation of the deuteron polarization observables $A^d_y$, $A_{yy}$, $A_{xx}$, $A_{xz}$ and the differential cross-section for elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering at incident deuteron energies 270 and 880 MeV in lab is presented. A comparison of the calculations with two different deuteron wave-functions derived from the Bonn-CD $NN$-potential model and the dressed bag quark model is carried out. A model-independent approach, based on an optical potential framework, is used in which a nucleon-nucleon $T$-matrix is assumed to be local and taken on the energy shell, but still depends on the internal nucleon momentum in a deuteron.