Four-Nucleon States in the Continuum: A Means to Probe the Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction

Abstract.

 Four-nucleon states in the continuum are studied through exact microscopic calculations based on the solution of the AGS equations for four nonrelativistic quantum particles. Our studies include calculations of cross sections and analyzing powers for all two-body reactions of interest, but here we only show results for n ³He → n ³He. The NN interactions we use are Bonn-CD, Nijmegen II, and Bonn-B. Compared to existing quality data, one finds large discrepancies and some sensitivity to the choice of NN force model. The calculated n + ³He elastic phase shifts show a very strong inelastic resonance at about 0.3 MeV which is not supported by the total cross-section data. This result is due to the existence of a ³ P ₀ (0⁻) resonance in isospin I = 0 at this energy and the undesirable coincidence of n + ³He and p + ³H thresholds in our calculation due to lack of Coulomb repulsion between protons. This interpretation is supported by R-matrix analyses of the data on the basis of coincident thresholds. Calculated 0⁺ and 0⁻ states are compared with modified R-matrix analyses.