Microscopic Description of Diffractive Deuteron Breakup by He-3 Nuclei

TL;DR

This paper develops a microscopic diffraction model to describe deuteron breakup by helium-3 nuclei, successfully analyzing experimental cross sections with a simple formula involving one adjustable parameter.

Contribution

It introduces a new microscopic formalism based on the diffraction nuclear model for deuteron breakup, using Gaussian basis expansions for the reaction amplitude.

Findings

The formula accurately describes experimental cross sections.

Correct asymptotic behavior of the deuteron wave function is crucial.

The model uses only one adjustable parameter.

Abstract

A microscopic formalism for describing observed cross sections for deuteron breakup by three-nucleon nuclei was developed on the basis of the diffraction nuclear model. A general formula that describes the amplitude for the reaction d+3He->3He+p+n and which involves only one adjustable parameter was obtained by using expansions of the integrands involved in terms of a Gaussian basis. This formula was used to analyze experimental data on the exclusive cross sections for deuteron breakup by He-3 nuclei at the projectile energy of 89.4 MeV. The importance of employing, in calculations, a deuteron wave function that has a correct asymptotic behavior at large nucleon-nucleon distances was demonstrated.