Towards an explanation of the space star anomaly

Abstract

One of the most intriguing discrepancies observed in the proton-deuteron breakup reaction is known as the Space Star Anomaly. The effect was found to peak at the energies ranging from 7.5 to 13 MeV/nucleon, but due to scarcity of data at higher energies, it has not been explained yet. Recently, a new analysis has been started in order to fill the gaps in our understanding of the problem. As the first step, the differential cross sections were calculated on the basis of the CD-Bonn potential, including explicit Δ excitation (coupled-channel potential) as well as the Coulomb force, in order to identify the effects that may contribute to the cross sections. The calculations were done for d(160 MeV)+p, p(108 MeV)+d and p(135 MeV)+d breakup reactions.