Elastic scattering of twisted neutrons by nuclei

We present a theoretical formalism for scattering of the twisted neutrons by nuclei in a kinematic regime where interference between Coulomb interaction and the strong interaction is essential. Twisted neutrons have definite quantized values of an angular momentum projection along the direction of p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Afanasev, A V, Karlovets, D V, Serbo, V G
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 25.02.2021
Subjects
Angular momentum
Elastic scattering
Neutrons
Nuclear reactions
Nuclei
Physics - Nuclear Theory
Physics - Quantum Physics
Polarization (spin alignment)
Scattering amplitude
Scattering cross sections
Strong interactions (field theory)
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Summary:We present a theoretical formalism for scattering of the twisted neutrons by nuclei in a kinematic regime where interference between Coulomb interaction and the strong interaction is essential. Twisted neutrons have definite quantized values of an angular momentum projection along the direction of propagation, and we show that it results in novel observable effects for the scattering cross section, spin asymmetries and polarization of the scattered neutrons. We demonstrate that additional capabilities provided by beam's orbital angular momentum enable new techniques for measuring both real and imaginary parts of the scattering amplitude. Several possible observables are considered, for which the targets may be either well-localized with respect to the spatial beam profile, or the scattering occurs incoherently on nuclei in a bulk target. The developed approach can be applied to other nuclear reactions with strongly interacting twisted particles.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2102.10380