Systematic analysis of proton- and deuteron-induced one-proton knockout reactions

TL;DR

This study investigates the mechanisms behind the observed ratio of deuteron- to proton-induced one-proton knockout reactions, introducing a new theoretical approach that incorporates deuteron breakup to better match experimental data.

Contribution

The paper develops a new DWIA-BU method that includes deuteron breakup effects, improving the theoretical description of knockout reaction ratios compared to standard DWIA.

Findings

DWIA-BU reproduces experimental ratios more accurately than DWIA.

Deuteron breakup is crucial for explaining the knockout cross section ratios.

The ratio of elementary cross sections remains about 3.5 across energies.

Abstract

The ratios of the one-proton knockout cross sections by a deuteron to those by a proton are about 1.5, indicating that using deuteron is more efficient than proton in yielding large knockout cross sections. However, this ratio differs from the intuitive expectation, and its underlying mechanism remains unclear. The purpose of this study is to clarify the mechanism behind the observed ratio by theoretically describing and analyzing the deuteron- and proton-induced one-proton knockout reactions. Proton-induced one-proton knockout reactions are described within the standard distorted-wave impulse approximation (DWIA) framework, while deuteron-induced one-proton knockout reactions are treated with a new approach, DWIA-BU, that incorporates deuteron breakup into the DWIA. The ratios calculated with the DWIA-BU reproduce the experimental data reasonably, whereas those with the DWIA significantly underestimate them. The ratio of the corresponding elementary cross sections remains about 3.5 regardless of the energy, and the difference in absorption between the deuteron and the proton influences the ratios of knockout cross sections, resulting in agreement between the calculated ratios and the experimental data. It is found that the deuteron breakup is essential to reproduce the experimental ratio. The ratios of the knockout cross sections are primarily determined by the difference in the elementary cross sections and that in the absorption between the deuteron and the proton.