Final-state interaction in the high-energy proton-deuteron break-up reaction

Abstract

An observed asymmetry in the angle between the proton momentum transfer and the direction of the spectator nucleon in the break-up reaction pd to ppn at high energies is explained in terms of the strong (np) final-state interaction in the deuteron channel. The separable potential model for the (np) force used in the calculation of this effect also predicts the possibility of significant differences in the distributions of neutron and proton spectators, depending upon the relative phase of the high-energy pp and pn amplitudes.