Scattering of Polarized Nucleon Beams

Abstract

The polarization formulas for the general reaction $a+b\to c+d$ are given in a compact form and specialized for the scattering of polarized nucleon beams at unpolarized targets. These targets may have arbitrary spin, possibly being different before and after collision. An interesting quantity in this problem is the polarization of the scattered nucleon beam. On the basis of general invariance properties of the transition matrix, this polarization is expressed by the polarization of the incoming nucleon beam and the relative momenta before and after collision. The invariant coefficients in this relation are functions of energy and scattering angle only; they are given in terms of the parameters of the transition matrix.