Determination of the Deuteron Form Factor from Coherentπ0Photoproduction

Coherent photoproduction of ${\pi }^0$ mesons from deuterium has been used to measure the deuteron form factor. Measurements of the production cross section were carried out for photon energies from 470 to 514 MeV by detecting momentum-analyzed recoil deuterons. These measurements were analyzed in terms of the impulse approximation calculation of Hadjioannou. The deuteron form factor has been determined in the range of momentum transfers from 1.74 to 2.74 ${\mathrm{F}}^{-1\mathrm{}}$. The results are consistent with the predictions of a repulsive core potential; however, there is some ambiguity in the interpretation due to the uncertainty in the magnitude of the multiple scattering corrections to the impulse approximation. Measurements of the cross section were also made as a function of photon energy for two constant momentum transfers, 1.76 and 1.96 ${\mathrm{F}}^{-1\mathrm{}}$. The range of energies covered was 300 to 500 MeV. The results indicate that there is a large reduction of the cross section with respect to the impulse approximation prediction near the (3,3) resonance. This is in qualitative agreement with calculated corrections arising from multiple scattering of the meson in the deuteron. The measurements show that this deviation decreases as the photon energy increases in the region above resonance.