Neutron-neutron scattering length from the reaction gamma d --> pi^+ nn employing chiral perturbation theory

Abstract

We discuss the possibility to extract the neutron-neutron scattering length a_{nn} from experimental spectra on the reaction gamma d --> pi^+ nn. The transition operator is calculated to high accuracy from chiral perturbation theory. We argue that for properly chosen kinematics, the theoretical uncertainty of the method can be as low as 0.1 fm.