Intermediate State Coupling and the Interpretation of High-Energy Nucleon-Nucleon Scattering

Abstract

The effect on the scattering of protons by protons of the $^{3}P_{2}\ensuremath{-}^{3}F_{2}$ coupling due to an intermediate state of the two-nucleon system is investigated. The problem is treated in a scattering matrix formalism, with total angular momentum $j=2$, orbital angular momentum $L=j\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$, and partial half-width ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{L}$. Only the $^{1}S_{0}$, $^{1}D_{2}$, $^{3}P_{0}$, $^{3}P_{1}$, $^{3}P_{2}\ensuremath{-}^{3}F_{2}$ scattering anomalies are considered. Fits to the experimental data at 240 Mev are studied as typical. For $^{1}K_{0}\ensuremath{\approx}31\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$, $^{1}K_{2}g0$ it is found that the data may be reasonably well represented provided $\frac{({\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{1}+{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{3})}{({E}_{R}\ensuremath{-}E)}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.3$. It has been found possible to fit data on $n\ensuremath{-}p$ and $p\ensuremath{-}p$ scattering employing phase shifts agreeing with the hypothesis of charge independence of nuclear forces. Reasonable agreement with experiment is obtained employing either the regular or the inverted order of $^{3}P_{0,1,2}$ levels.