Observation of Meson-Exchange Effects in Deuteron Electrodisintegration

Abstract

Electrodisintegration of the deuteron has been measured for an incident energy of 300 MeV at 30° and 90° scattering angles. The maximum energy transfer was 116 MeV. Very good agreement with theory was achieved when the pionic-exchange currents were included. Near the threshold and for momentum transfer $\overrightarrow{\mathrm{q}}_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.\mathrm{}}^{}{}_{}{}^2=3.9\mathrm{}$ ${\mathrm{fm}}^{-2\mathrm{}}$, the meson-exchange currents contribute about 40% to the total cross section.