Probing the high momentum component of the deuteron at high Q^2

TL;DR

This study measures the deuteron electro-disintegration cross section at high momentum transfer to explore the high momentum components of the deuteron wave function, providing experimental data that aligns with theoretical predictions in specific kinematic regions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental investigation of the high momentum component of the deuteron at high Q^2, validating theoretical models with new data.

Findings

Experimental cross sections agree with calculations for certain recoil angles.

Data reveals the high momentum tail of the deuteron distribution.

Final state interactions are minimal in the studied kinematic range.

Abstract

The d(e,e'p) cross section at a momentum transfer of 3.5 (GeV/c)^2 was measured over a kinematical range that made it possible to study this reaction for a set of fixed missing momenta as a function of the neutron recoil angle theta_nq and to extract missing momentum distributions for fixed values of theta_nq up to 0.55 GeV/c. In the region of 35 (deg) <= theta_nq <= 45 (deg) recent calculations, which predict that final state interactions are small, agree reasonably well with the experimental data. Therefore these experimental reduced cross sections provide direct access to the high momentum component of the deuteron momentum distribution in exclusive deuteron electro-disintegration.