Large deviations from the polarization-analyzing power equality and implied breakdown of time reversal invariance. [14 MeV]

Abstract

The first test that compares the polarization (P) and the analyzing power (A) from measurements in a nuclear reaction and its inverse is reported. The reactions chosen for the P-A comparisons were the two-nucleon transfers /sup 7/Li(/sup 3/He,p)/sup 9/Be and /sup 9/Be(/sup 3/He,p)/sup 11/B, with 14-MeV incident /sup 3/He ions, and their inverses studied at the same CM energies. An astonishingly large P-A difference is found. The clear implication is that time-reversal invariance (TRI) is broken in some component of the nuclear interaction, since the polarization-analyzing power equality follows directly from TRI. 5 figures. (RWR