The deuteron as target in high energy reactions

The physical information which can be extracted from reactions using a deuterium target is studied. Having been given a brief survey of the deuteron properties the elastic scattering by deuterium is treated. The analysis of these experiments allows to extract from the data by means of models, such as the Glauber formalism, some information about elastic scattering on the neutron, total cross sections for instance. A study of inelastic reactions on neutrons in a deuteron target is undertaken. The influences of the Fermi motion and the exclusion principle on the studied process are investigated. Inelastic cross sections are extracted. Furthermore, coherent reactions are utilized for studying the diffraction dissociation process of the beam particle. An interesting aspect of these reactions arises from the fact that the system recoiling against the deuteron is in a pure isospin state