Collision Cross-Sections of the Deuteron at High Energies

We consider in detail a number of effects which lead to a difference between the high energy cross-sections of the deuteron and the sum of the corresponding cross-sections of a free neutron and proton. Particular attention is paid to the role of double scattering, which is chiefly responsible for explaining the cross-section difference at energies below the meson production threshold. A simple analysis is given of the error made by the impulse approximation in neglecting the effects of double scattering. (author)