Sensitivity of ($d$, $p$) Reactions to High $n\text{−}p$ Momenta and the Consequences for Nuclear Spectroscopy Studies

Theoretical models of low-energy ($d$, $p$) single-neutron transfer reactions are a crucial link between experimentation, nuclear structure, and nuclear astrophysical studies. Whereas reaction models that use local optical potentials are insensitive to short-range physics in the deuteron, we show that including the inherent nonlocality of the nucleon-target interactions and realistic deuteron wave functions generates significant sensitivity to high $n\text{−}p$ relative momenta and to the underlying nucleon-nucleon interaction. We quantify this effect upon the deuteron channel distorting potentials within the framework of the adiabatic deuteron breakup model. The implications for calculated ($d$, $p$) cross sections and spectroscopic information deduced from experiments are discussed.

Figure 1

Momentum space behaviors of the $S$- and $D$-state components of $D(\mathit{k})=⟨\mathit{k}|V_{np}|{\varphi }_0⟩$ for the $NN$ potential models of Table 1. The band for $\chi \mathrm{EFT}$ corresponds to the range of regulators in Table 1.

Figure 2

Trivially equivalent local deuteron-target potentials for the $d+{}^{26}\mathrm{Al}$ system at 12 MeV computed using the different $NN$ models of Table 1. The band for $\chi \mathrm{EFT}$ corresponds to the range of regulators shown in Table 1.

Figure 3

Calculated differential cross sections for the ${}^{26}\mathrm{Al}(d,p)$ reaction at $E_d=12\mathrm{MeV}$ for the four ${}^{27}\mathrm{Al}$ final states indicated and the different $NN$ interaction models of Table 1. The gray shaded areas cover the angular range of the experimental data reported in Ref. [26]. All calculations use unit spectroscopic factors, $C^{2}S=1$. The different lines correspond to the same $NN$ models as in Figs. 1 and 2.