Dynamic Isovector Reorientation of Deuteron as a Probe to Nuclear Symmetry Energy

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Nov 20;115(21):212501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.212501. Epub 2015 Nov 20.

Abstract

We present the calculations on a novel reorientation effect of deuteron attributed to isovector interaction in the nuclear field of heavy target nuclei. The correlation angle determined by the relative momentum vector of the proton and the neutron originating from the breakup deuteron, which is experimentally detectable, exhibits significant dependence on the isovector nuclear potential but is robust against the variation of the isoscaler sector. In terms of sensitivity and cleanness, the breakup reactions induced by the polarized deuteron beam at about 100 MeV/u provide a more stringent constraint to the symmetry energy at subsaturation densities.