The Inelastic Scattering of High Energy Neutrons by Deuterons According to the Impulse Approximation

Abstract

The high energy $n\ensuremath{-}d$ inelastic scattering problem is formulated in such a way that the amplitudes for $n\ensuremath{-}n$ and $n\ensuremath{-}p$ scattering at the same energy appear explicitly. The formulation depends on: (1) the large radius of the deuteron compared with the range of nuclear forces and high energy scattering amplitudes; (2) the high velocity of the incident neutron compared to the zero point motion of the deuteron. The method does not depend on the weakness of nuclear forces compared to the kinetic energy of the neutron and is therefore not equivalent to the Born approximation.