Speaker
Description
An upcoming experiment at the High Intensity Game Source (HIGS) at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) will measure the polarization of recoiling neutrons from the photodisintegration of deuterium nuclei. As the simplest, multi-body nucleus, the deuteron offers a unique opportunity to study nucleon-nucleon interactions. Over the years, nuclear theory has developed to be able to describe the behavior and structure of few-body nuclei fairly well. However, discrepancies between theory and experimental data persist in measurements of certain polarization observables. The recoil polarization in $d(\gamma, \vec{n})p$, is a prime example of one such measurement. Historical data depart from modern theoretical calculations around a photon energy of 12 MeV. This experiment will map the polarization transfer over a range of photon energies below 20 MeV and neutron scattering angles. The setup consists of a set of high pressure $^{4}$He-Xe polarization analyzers surrounded by neutron scintillation counters to measure the recoil neutron polarization. From this measurement, the polarized and unpolarized photon beam contributions will be extracted and compared to theory. Preliminary analysis and results will be presented.
