Proton-neutron correlation in the deuteron breakup at 56 MeV and prior-form DWBA analysis

Proton-neutron angular correlations in the ¹²C, ⁵¹V and ¹¹⁸Sn(d, pn) reactions have been measured at 56 MeV to investigate the deuteron breakup process. The elastic breakup which leaves the target nucleus in its ground state dominates the coincident spectra. The elastic breakup cross sections are estimated to be 36–48% of the inclusive breakup yields at 15° or 17.5°. In the angular correlations the protons are emitted predominantly on the side of the beam opposite to the neutrons. The experimental data have been analyzed using the prior-form DWBA. For both nuclear and Coulomb breakup, sufficient convergence of the calculations is obtained by including the pn angular momenta up to l = 2. For the nuclear breakup calculations, the l = 0 and 2 contributions dominate the cross sections. For the Coulomb breakup the l = 1 contribution is predominant. In the calculations the effect of the Coulomb breakup is seen at forward angles of the angular correlation. The DWBA calculations reproduce fairly well the coincident energy spectra and the angular correlations in the angular region where the protons are emitted on the side of the beam opposite to the neutrons. On the other hand the calculations overestimate the break-up cross sections by a factor of 2 to 10 in the angular region where the protons are emitted on the same side of the beam as the neutrons. The distributions of deuteron c.m. angular momenta that contribute to the breakup amplitude are examined to obtain information on the region of space in which the breakup reactions takes place.