The nucleon-induced deuteron breakup process as a laboratory for chiral dynamics

The nucleon-induced deuteron breakup reaction is studied within the Faddeev approach at incoming nucleon laboratory energies of 135 and 200 MeV. The chiral semilocal momentum-space (SMS) potential developed up to (NLO+)-L-4, supplemented by the (NLO)-L-2 three-nucleon interaction, is used. Our investigation is focused on the determination of theoretical uncertainties in a predicted cross section related to its dependence on the value of the cutoff parameter of the regulator. We also compare predictions based on the complete (NLO)-L-2 potential with those based on the two-nucleon force upgraded to the (NLO+)-L-4 order and augmented with the (NLO)-L-2 three-nucleon force. In addition, we study the three-nucleon force effects predicted by this model of interaction. Our systematic study covers the entire kinematically allowed phase space; however, our main results are obtained when additional restrictions on energies and cross section values are imposed. In such a case, we observe that the dependence of the differential cross sections on the regulator cutoff is moderate at 135 MeV and much stronger at 200 MeV. For the latter energy, it can amount to up to 45% in specific kinematic configurations. Taking into account terms beyond, (NLO)-L-2 in a two-body interaction changes the cross section up to 20% (27%) at E = 135(200) MeV. The inclusion of the three-nucleon force leads to effects of approximately 27% at both energies. We illustrate these dependencies with a few examples of the exclusive cross section as a function of the arc length of the S-curve.

Automated summary

In this study, the nucleon-induced deuteron breakup reaction is investigated using the Faddeev approach. The theoretical uncertainties in the predicted cross section, which depend on the value of the cutoff parameter, are determined. Predictions based on different potentials are compared, and the effects of the three-nucleon force are studied. The results show that the dependence of the cross sections on the regulator cutoff is moderate at 135 MeV and much stronger at 200 MeV, with up to 45% variation in specific kinematic configurations.