Elastic proton-deuteron scattering at intermediate energies

Observables in elastic proton-deuteron scattering are sensitive probes of the nucleon-nucleon interaction and three-nucleon force effects. The present experimental database for this reaction is large, but contains a large discrepancy between data sets for the differential cross section taken at 135 MeV/nucleon by two experimental research groups. This article reviews the background of this problem and presents new data taken at Kernfysisch Versneller Instituute (KVI). Differential cross sections and analyzing powers for the H-2((p) over right arrow ,d)p and H-1((d) over right arrow ,d)p reactions at 135 MeV/nucleon and 65 MeV/nucleon, respectively, have been measured. The differential cross-section data differ significantly from previous measurements and consistently follow the energy dependence as expected from an interpolation of published data taken over a large range at intermediate energies.