Three-body scattering at intermediate energies -: art. no. 054003

The Faddeev equation for three-body scattering at arbitrary energies is formulated in momentum space and directly solved in terms of momentum vectors without employing a partial-wave decomposition. In its simplest form, the Faddeev equation for identical bosons, which we are using, is a three-dimensional integral equation in five variables, magnitudes of relative momenta and angles. This equation is solved through Pade summation. Based on a Malfliet-Tjon-type potential, the numerical feasibility and stability of the algorithm for solving the Faddeev equation is demonstrated. Special attention is given to the selection of independent variables and the treatment of three-body breakup singularities with a spline-based method. The elastic differential cross section, semiexclusive d(N,N-') cross sections, and total cross sections of both elastic and breakup processes in the intermediate-energy range up to about 1 GeV are calculated and the convergence of the multiple-scattering series is investigated in every case. In general, a truncation in the first or second order in the two-body t matrix is quite insufficient.