Three-Nucleon Force and the Δ\Delta-Mechanism for Pion Production and Pion Absorption

The description of the three-nucleon system in terms of nucleon and $\Delta$ degrees of freedom is extended to allow for explicit pion production (absorption) from single dynamic $\Delta$ de-excitation (excitation) processes. This mechanism yields an energy dependent effective three-body hamiltonean. The Faddeev equations for the trinucleon bound state are solved with a force model that has already been tested in the two-nucleon system above pion-production threshold. The binding energy and other bound state properties are calculated. The contribution to the effective three-nucleon force arising from the pionic degrees of freedom is evaluated. The validity of previous coupled-channel calculations with explicit but stable $\Delta$ isobar components in the wavefunction is studied.Comment: 23 pages in Revtex 3.0, 9 figures (not included, available as postscript files upon request), CEBAF-TH-93-0

Consistent Treatment of Relativistic Effects in Electrodisintegration of the Deuteron

The influence of relativistic contributions to deuteron electrodisintegration is systematically studied in various kinematic regions of energy and momentum transfer. As theoretical framework the equation-of-motion and the unitarily equivalent S-matrix approaches are used. In a (p/M)-expansion, all leading order relativistic $\pi$-exchange contributions consistent with the Bonn OBEPQ model are included. In addition, static heavy meson exchange currents including boost terms, $\gamma\pi\rho/\omega$-currents, and $\Delta$-isobar contributions are considered. Sizeable effects from the various relativistic two-body contributions, mainly from $\pi$-exchange, have been found in inclusive form factors and exclusive structure functions for a variety of kinematic regions.Comment: 41 pages revtex including 15 postscript figure

Effects of Neuraxial Blockade May Be Difficult To Study Using Large Randomized Controlled Trials: The PeriOperative Epidural Trial (POET) Pilot Study

Early randomized controlled trials have suggested that neuraxial blockade may reduce cardiorespiratory complications after non-cardiothoracic surgery, but recent larger trials have been inconclusive. We conducted a pilot study to assess the feasibility of conducting a large multicentre randomized controlled trial in Canada.After Research Ethics Board approvals from the participating institutions, subjects were recruited if they were > or = 45 years old, had an expected hospital stay > or = 48 hours, were undergoing a noncardiothoracic procedure amenable to epidural analgesia, met one of six risk criteria, and did not have contraindications to neuraxial blockade. After informed consent, subjects were randomly allocated to combined epidural analgesia (epidural group) and neuraxial anesthesia, with or without general anesthesia, or intravenous opioid analgesia (IV group) and general anesthesia. The primary outcomes were the rate of recruitment and the percents of eligible patients recruited, crossed over, and followed completely. Feasibility targets were defined a priori. A blinded, independent committee adjudicated the secondary clinical outcomes. Subjects were followed daily while in hospital and then at 30 days after surgery. Analysis was intention-to-treat. Over a 15-month period, the recruitment rate was 0.5+/-0.3 (mean+/-SEM) subjects per week per centre; 112/494 (22.7%) eligible subjects were recruited at four tertiary-care teaching hospitals in Canada. Thirteen (26.5%) of 49 subjects in the epidural group crossed over to the IV group; seven (14.3%) were due to failed or inadequate analgesia or complications from epidural analgesia. Five (9.8%) of 51 subjects in the IV group crossed over to the epidural group but none were due to inadequate analgesia or complications. Ninety-eight (97.0%) of 101 subjects were successfully followed up until 30 days after their surgery.Of the criteria we defined for the feasibility of a full-scale trial, only the follow-up target was met. The other feasibility outcomes did not meet our preset criteria for success. The results suggest that a large multicentre trial may not be a feasible design to study the perioperative effects of neuraxial blockade.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT 0221260 Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN 35629817

Pion Absorption Cross Section for ^2H and ^3He in the Delta-Isobar Region: A Phenomenological Connection

The absorption of \pi^+ on ^3He in the $\Delta$-region is evaluated with exact inclusion of the final state interaction among the three emerging protons. The absorption is described by a $\pi N \to \Delta$ vertex and a $N\Delta - NN$ transition t-matrix which are calculated from a phenomenological model for NN and \pi d reactions. In a calculation where the initial pion scattering effects are neglected, the predicted peaks of the pion absorption cross sections for ^2H and ^3He lie too high in energy in relation to the data. The effect of the final state three-nucleon interaction turns out to be too small for changing the magnitude and shifting the peak position of the total absorption cross section for ^3He. We demonstrate that the adjustment of the peak position for the deuteron cross section by small modifications of the $\Delta$-parameters, automatically leads to the correct peak position in ^3He.Comment: 12 pages, REVTeX, 10 PostScript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.