Photon Scattering from Protons and Deuterons

Abstract

The scattering of photons of 100 to 200 Mev from protons and deuterons is examined in a model in which it is assumed that only electric and magnetic dipole photons scatter. Two dispersion relations derived by Gell-Mann, Goldberger, and Thirring, and the analysis of photopion production from nucleons by Watson, Keck, Tollestrop, and Walker, and used to guide the theoretical prediction of differential scattering cross sections. Several approximations are made, including the impulse approximation in the discussion of photondeuteron scattering; the accuracy of these approximations is estimated. In this model the photon-proton cross section, and the sum of the elastic and inelastic photon-deuteron cross sections are largest at backward scattering angles. Several feasible types of photon-deuteron scattering experiments are discussed briefly.