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Title: Electromagnetic Structure of A=2 and 3 Nuclei and the Nuclear Current Operator

Journal Article ·
OSTI ID:836560

Different models for conserved two- and three-body electromagnetic currents are constructed from two- and three-nucleon interactions, using either meson-exchange mechanisms or minimal substitution in the momentum dependence of these interactions. The connection between these two different schemes is elucidated. A number of low-energy electronuclear observables, including (i) np radiative capture at thermal neutron energies and deuteron photodisintegration at low energies, (ii) nd and pd radiative capture reactions, and (iii) isoscalar and isovector magnetic form factors of {sup 3}H and {sup 3}He, are calculated in order to make a comparative study of these models for the current operator. The realistic Argonne v{sub 18} two-nucleon and Urbana IX or Tucson-Melbourne three-nucleon interactions are taken as a case study. For A=3 processes, the bound and continuum wave functions, both below and above deuteron breakup threshold, are obtained with the correlated hyperspherical-harmonics method. Three-body currents give small but significant contributions to some of the polarization observables in the {sup 2}H(p,{gamma}){sup 3}He process and the {sup 2}H(n,{gamma}){sup 3}H cross section at thermal neutron energies. It is shown that the use of a current which did not exactly satisfy current conservation with the two- and three-nucleon interactions in the Hamiltonian was responsible for some of the discrepancies reported in previous studies between the experimental and theoretical polarization observables in pd radiative capture.

Research Organization:
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Research (ER) (US)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84ER40150
OSTI ID:
836560
Report Number(s):
JLAB-THY-05-300; DOE/ER/40150-3109; TRN: US0500659
Resource Relation:
Other Information: No journal information given for this preprint; PBD: 1 Feb 2005
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English