Spin-dependent nucleon-nucleon amplitudes and proton-4He elastic scattering

the importance of the spin-dependent nucleon-nucleon amplitudes in the elastic scattering of protons on spin-zero nuclear targets is discussed. Numerical estimates are given for 800 MeV incident energy in the case of a 4He target. This nucleus is chosen because of the relatively simple structure of its wavefunction. The results show that the usual prescription of retaining only the central and spin-orbit amplitudes out of the five independent terms is justified at least for momentum transfer smaller than 4 fm-1. (author)