The elastic scattering of neutrons by deuterons with allowance for polarization

Abstract

Previous calculations of the elastic scattering of low energy (< 10 MeV) neutrons by deuterons have shown a discrepancy between the calculated and observed doublet scattering lengths. It has been suggested that this may be partly due to the neglect of polarization of the deuterons and the present paper attempts to make an allowance for this effect. The problem is formulated in a variational manner and a trial function is adopted which includes an explicit polarization parameter. The internucleonic interaction is assumed to be central with Gauss radial dependence and the unperturbed deuteron ground state wave-function is represented by two Gauss terms. Using the Kohn method and taking an M. H. W. B. type exchange force, S phases were evaluated on DEUCE and compared with the non-polarization results of Burke & Robertson (1957). Polarization effects in this approximation are found to be negligible.