Photodisintegration of the Deuteron by Meson Reabsorption

Abstract

A calculation is made of the photodisintegration of the deuteron which is caused by a meson being photo-produced on one of the nucleons of the deuteron and then subsequently being reabsorbed by the two nucleons. The measured photomeson production cross sections in hydrogen are separated into $S$-wave and $P$-wave parts so that the production of mesons on the neutron can be computed. The probability of meson reabsorption after production is taken as 0.11; this value results from Austern's calculation of the effects of $P$-state mesons. The effect of virtual production and reabsorption of $S$-state mesons even below the meson threshold is shown to be very important. Calculated values of the total cross section agree rather well with the experimentally measured cross sections.