A field theory approach to pion deuteron elastic scattering

Pion-deuteron elastic scattering is studied using a field theory of pions and nucleons. By treating the nucleons in this manner, the double-counting problem usually associated with pion multiple-seattering is avoided. The pion-deuteron T-matrix is written as a series expansion in terms of operators between one-nucleon states. The first two terms in the series are examined. The first term yields the usual single-scattering contribution to the T-matrix. The second term in the series can be expressed as a sum of twenty terms. By making an on-shell approximation and a static approximation where physically sensible, the magnitudes of the twenty terms are compared. The dominant term is similar to the conventional double scattering term resulting from the generalized impulse approximation. There are also four other terms whose magnitude cannot be evaluated without doing numerical studies with a particular field theoretic potential.Science, Faculty ofPhysics and Astronomy, Department ofGraduat