The method of unitary clothing transformations in the theory of nucleon-nucleon scattering

The clothing procedure, put forward in quantum field theory by Greenberg and Schweber, is applied for the description of nucleon-nucleon (N-N) scattering. We consider pseudoscalar, vector and scalar meson fields interacting with 1/2 spin fermion ones via the Yukawa-type couplings to introduce trial interactions between "bare" particles. The subsequent unitary clothing transformations are found to express the total Hamiltonian through new interaction operators that refer to particles with physical (observable) properties, the so-called clothed particles. In this work, we are focused upon the Hermitian and energy-independent operators for the clothed nucleons, being built up in the second order in the coupling constants. The corresponding analytic expressions in momentum space are compared with the separate meson contributions to the one-boson-exchange potentials in the meson theory of nuclear forces. In order to evaluate the T-matrix of the N-N scattering we have used an equivalence theorem that enables us to operate in the clothed particle representation (CPR) instead of the bare particle representation with its huge amount of virtual processes. We have derived the Lippmann-Schwinger-type equation for the CPR elements of the T-matrix for a given collision energy in the two-nucleon sector of the Hilbert space of hadronic states and elaborated a code for its numerical solution in momentum space.Comment: 10 pages, 3 eps figures, proceedings of "19th International IUPAP Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics"(FB19), 30Aug-05Sep 2009, Bonn, German

Reaction Mechanisms of the Proton - Deuteron Breakup Process at GeV Energies

The deuteron fragmentation by fast protons has been studied both near the kinematics of quasi-free proton - proton scattering and far away from it. We have concentrated on the interplay between different reaction mechanisms associated with the antisymmetrization of the initial and final states and rescattering contributions. A multiple-scattering-expansion technique has been applied to evaluate the reaction amplitude. An essential element of this approach in the momentum representation is the use of the effective nucleon- nucleon interaction constructed by Love and Franey as a two-body t-matrix for the incident proton scattering on a bound nucleon in the deuteron. Along with the five-fold cross sections, the proton analyzing power and the deuteron analyzing powers have been calculated as function of the momentum of the outgoing fast proton. The results are compared with the data obtained by the Gatchina-Saclay collaboration.Comment: LaTeX, 27 pages, 11 figures, to be published in Few Body System

The One-Body and Two-Body Density Matrices of Finite Nuclei and Center-of-Mass Correlations

A method is presented for the calculation of the one-body and two-body density matrices and their Fourier transforms in momentum space, that is consistent with the requirement for translational invariance, in the case of a nucleus (a finite self-bound system). We restore translational invariance by using the so-called fixed center-of-mass approximation for constructing an intrinsic nuclear ground state wavefunction by starting from a non-translationally invariant wavefunction and applying a projection prescription. We discuss results for the one-body and two-body momentum distributions of the 4He nucleus calculated with the Slater determinant of the harmonic oscillator orbitals, as the initial non-translationally invariant wavefunction. Effects of such an inclusion of CM correlations are found to be quite important in the momentum distributions.Comment: 5 pages, incl. 2 figures; Proc. Int. Conf. on Frontiers in Nuclear Structure, Astrophysics and Reactions (FINUSTAR), Kos, Greece, Sept.200

The one-body and two-body density matrices of finite nuclei with an appropriate treatment of the center-of-mass motion

The one-body and two-body density matrices in coordinate space and their Fourier transforms in momentum space are studied for a nucleus (a nonrelativistic, self-bound finite system). Unlike the usual procedure, suitable for infinite or externally bound systems, they are determined as expectation values of appropriate intrinsic operators, dependent on the relative coordinates and momenta (Jacobi variables) and acting on intrinsic wavefunctions of nuclear states. Thus, translational invariance (TI) is respected. When handling such intrinsic quantities, we use an algebraic technique based upon the Cartesian representation, in which the coordinate and momentum operators are linear combinations of the creation and annihilation operators a^+ and a for oscillator quanta. Each of the relevant multiplicative operators can then be reduced to the form: one exponential of the set {a^+} times other exponential of the set {a}. In the course of such a normal-ordering procedure we offer a fresh look at the appearance of "Tassie-Barker" factors, and point out other model-independent results. The intrinsic wavefunction of the nucleus in its ground state is constructed from a nontranslationally-invariant (nTI) one via existing projection techniques. As an illustration, the one-body and two-body momentum distributions (MDs) for the 4He nucleus are calculated with the Slater determinant of the harmonic-oscillator model as the trial, nTI wavefunction. We find that the TI introduces important effects in the MDs.Comment: 13 pages, incl. 3 figures - to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

Modelling a Particle Detector in Field Theory

Particle detector models allow to give an operational definition to the particle content of a given quantum state of a field theory. The commonly adopted Unruh-DeWitt type of detector is known to undergo temporary transitions to excited states even when at rest and in the Minkowski vacuum. We argue that real detectors do not feature this property, as the configuration "detector in its ground state + vacuum of the field" is generally a stable bound state of the underlying fundamental theory (e.g. the ground state-hydrogen atom in a suitable QED with electrons and protons) in the non-accelerated case. As a concrete example, we study a local relativistic field theory where a stable particle can capture a light quantum and form a quasi-stable state. As expected, to such a stable particle correspond energy eigenstates of the full theory, as is shown explicitly by using a dressed particle formalism at first order in perturbation theory. We derive an effective model of detector (at rest) where the stable particle and the quasi-stable configurations correspond to the two internal levels, "ground" and "excited", of the detector.Comment: 13 pages, references added, final versio