Isobar production in nucleon-nucleon collisions: (II). Polarization effects

Abstract

Some of the polarization effects are studied for the process of single-isobar production in nucleon-nucleon collisions in a model in which the production amplitude is approximated by the pole contributions. Only those effects are studied which do not involve the isobar polarization and which involve the polarization of only two of the nucleons-either the two initial nucleons or an initial nucleon and the recoil nucleon; this is done using covariant projection operators. The most general dependence of the differential cross-section on the polarizations is derived, and the six polarization correlation functions are defined and evaluated as functions of the scattering angle; numerical results are obtained for π and ρ exchange. The type of information that can be obtained from the polarization correlations is discussed.