Radiative capture of polarized neutrons by polarized protons

Abstract

A model-independent irreducible tensor approach to p(n,gamma)d is presented and an explicit form for the spin-structure of the matrix for the reaction is obtained in terms of the Pauli spin-matrices for the neutron and the proton. Expressing the multipole amplitudes in terms of the triplet --> triplet and singlet --> triplet transitions, we point out how the initial singlet and triplet contributions to the differential cross section can be determined empirically.