Polarization Observables in Deuteron Photodisintegration below 360 MeV

TL;DR

This study presents high-precision polarization measurements in deuteron photodisintegration at energies below 360 MeV, revealing persistent discrepancies with theoretical models and highlighting the need for improved understanding of nuclear interactions.

Contribution

It provides new experimental polarization data at low energies, challenging existing meson-baryon models and suggesting missing elements or inaccuracies in current theoretical approaches.

Findings

Data show theory fails to match measurements at low energies

Indicates potential issues with nucleon-nucleon potential models

Highlights need for refined theoretical models in nuclear physics

Abstract

High precision measurements of induced and transferred recoil proton polarization in d(polarized gamma, polarized p})n have been performed for photon energies of 277--357 MeV and theta_cm = 20 degrees -- 120 degrees. The measurements were motivated by a longstanding discrepancy between meson-baryon model calculations and data at higher energies. At the low energies of this experiment, theory continues to fail to reproduce the data, indicating that either something is missing in the calculations and/or there is a problem with the accuracy of the nucleon-nucleon potential being used.