Poincaré Invariant Three-Body Scattering at Intermediate Energies

Abstract

The relativistic Faddeev equation for three-nucleon scattering is formulated in momentum space and directly solved in terms of momentum vectors without employing a partial wave decomposition. The equation is solved through Padé summation, and the numerical feasibility and stability of the solution is demonstrated. Relativistic invariance is achieved by constructing a dynamical unitary representation of the Poincaré group on the three-nucleon Hilbert space. Based on a Malfliet-Tjon type interaction, observables for elastic and break-up scattering are calculated for projectile energies in the intermediate energy range up to 2 GeV, and compared to their nonrelativistic counterparts. The convergence of the multiple scattering series is investigated as a function of the projectile energy in different scattering observables and configurations. Approximations to the two-body interaction embedded in the three-particle space are compared to the exact treatment.

Comments: 16 pages, 13 figures