Parity-violating asymmetry in nucleon-nucleon scattering

Abstract

The weak parity-violating component of the nucleon-nucleon interaction can be studied directly and in detail through the scattering of longitudinally polarized nucleons on nucleons. We use distorted-wave theory to predict the dependence of the differential and total cross sections on the helicity of incident longitudinally polarized protons for elastic proton-nucleon scattering at energies up to ∼ 300 MeV. The weak force used is parametrized by $\rho$, $\omega$, $\pi$, and $2\pi$ exchanges, the strong one by a Hamada-Johnston or Bryan-Gersten potential.