Significance of the refraction effect on the $p\text{−}d$ elementary process in the ($p,pd$) reaction

Background: The proton-induced deuteron knockout reaction, ($p,pd$), is one of the interests in studies probing the deuteron-like $p\text{−}n$ correlation in nuclei. According to a recent study of the inclusive deuteron-induced reaction, $(d,d^{\prime }x)$, the refraction effect of the deuteron has a significant effect on the elementary process, nucleon-deuteron ($N\text{−}d$) binary scattering inside a nucleus, of the reaction. In the paper, it is shown that proper treatment of the local $N\text{−}d$ relative momentum in the elementary process is crucial in $(d,d^{\prime }x)$ reactions at 100 MeV and below.

Purpose: In the present work, we investigate the deuteron refraction effect in the exclusive ($p,pd$) reactions. We also discuss the incident energy dependence of the refraction effect.

Method: The refraction effect on the $p\text{−}d$ elementary process is taken into account by the local semiclassical approximation to the distorted waves. The results are compared with those obtained with the asymptotic momentum approximation, which is standardly applied to the distorted wave impulse approximation framework.

Result: It is shown that the refraction effect drastically changes the energy sharing distribution of the ${}_{16}O(p,pd){}_{14}N$ reaction at 101.3 MeV and gives a better agreement with experimental data. In contrast, it is confirmed that the effect is negligibly small at 250 MeV.

Conclusion: We have clarified that the deuteron refraction effect is significant in the ${}_{16}O(p,pd){}_{14}N$ reaction at 101.3 MeV and the experimental data are well reproduced. The refraction effect plays a significant role in both the shape and magnitude of the ($p,pd$) cross section, while the effect is negligible at 250 MeV.