Spin observables in nucleon-deuteron scattering and three-nucleon forces

Abstract

Three-nucleon forces, which compose an up-to-date subject in few-nucleon systems, provide a good account of the triton binding energy and the cross section minimum in proton-deuteron elastic scattering, while do not succeed in explaining spin observables such as the nucleon and deuteron analyzing powers, suggesting serious defects in their spin dependence. We study the spin structure of nucleon-deuteron elastic amplitudes by decomposing them into spin-space tensors and examine effects of three-nucleon forces to each component of the amplitudes obtained by solving the Faddeev equation. Assuming that the spin-scalar amplitudes dominate the others, we derive simple expressions for spin observables in the nucleon-deuteron elastic scattering. The expressions suggest that a particular combination of spin observables in the scattering provides direct information of scalar, vector, or tensor component of the three-nucleon forces. These effects are numerically investigated by the Faddeev calculation.