Measurement of the Neutron-Proton Final-State Interaction in the Electrodisintegration of Deuterium

Measurements have been made of the inelastic differential cross sections for electrodisintegration of deuterium for ε in the range from 0 to 12 Mev, where ε is the energy in the n-p center-of-mass system in the final state. Primary electron energies were in the range from 204 to 500 Mev. The process was studied for momentum transfers from 1.8 to 2.8 f^-1. The n-p interaction in the unbound state gives rise to a peak in the differential cross sections for ε near zero for transitions to the ¹S and ³S states of the n-p system. The high momentum transfers available make the results sensitive to the short range structure of the unbound n-p wave functions. The results fail to agree with the predictions of Jankus even at the lowest momentum transfers, when a central attractive force is assumed for the n-p force. At the highest momentum transfers the predicted cross sections are approximately 50% greater than the measured ones. The experimental results agree with theory if a repulsive core of the radius required to fit the elastic scattering data is used both in the bound and unbound n-p states. The extent to which relativistic corrections alter this conclusion is not known at present.