Three-body vertices with d vs. dsup(*) in few-body break-up reactions

Recent data on few-body reactions have focussed attention on the desirability of treating the singlet deuteron (dsup(*)) on par with the triplet deuteron (d). This question is examined in the context of a serious ambiguity existing in the literature on the basic status of dsup(*), viz. the conventional virtual-level point of view (equivalent to a ''ghost'' in field theory language) vs. a less-known resonant interpretation (due to Nomoto). Curiously enough, the latter interpretation seems to produce better overlaps with experiment on the d-to-dsup(*) ratio of three-body vertices, as deduced from appropriate break-up reaction data. Moreover, the distinction appears to be qualitative enough to survive the full-fledged mathematical machinery of the few-body theory, which is avoided in the present analysis in favour of effective three-body wave functions which fit the corresponding charge form factor as well as the Coulomb energy. (author)