Nuclear parity violation in gamma d--> pi

Abstract

The abnormal parity components in the deuteron wave function lead to a photon circular polarization asymmetry in the momentum distribution of the outgoing pions in $\ensuremath{\gamma}\mathrm{d}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}\mathrm{d}$. An experimental measurement of this asymmetry could lead to a better understanding of the abnormal parity components in the deuteron wave function. It is shown that this asymmetry is of the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}$-${10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}$ and is about the same order of magnitude as the asymmetry in $\mathrm{np}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\mathrm{d}\ensuremath{\gamma}$.