Compton scattering from the deuteron below pion-production threshold

Abstract

Differential cross sections for elastic scattering of photons from the deuteron have recently been measured at the Tagged-Photon Facility at the MAX IV Laboratory in Lund, Sweden. These first new measurements in more than a decade further constrain the isoscalar electromagnetic polarizabilities of the nucleon and provide the first-ever results above 100 MeV, where the sensitivity to the polarizabilities is increased. We add 23 points between 70 and 112 MeV, at angles 60◦ , 120◦ and 150◦ . Analysis of these data using a Chiral Effective Field Theory indicates that the cross sections are both self-consistent and consistent with previous measurements. Extracted values of αs = [12.1 ± 0.8(stat) ± 0.2(BSR) ± 0.8(th)] × 10−4 fm3 and βs = [2.4 ± 0.8(stat) ± 0.2(BSR) ± 0.8(th)] × 10−4 fm3 are obtained from a fit to these 23 new data points. This paper presents in detail the experimental conditions and the data analysis used to extract the cross sections.