Distinctive Signatures for Quantum Chromodynamics in Nuclear Physics

For individual helicity amplitudes, asymptotic QCD gives results which differ from standard nuclear physics. For the deuteron electromagnetic form factors, QCD predicts $G_C=\left(\frac{Q^2}{6M_d^2}\right)G_Q$ at high $Q^2$. This gives a result for the polarization ratio $\frac{p_x}{p_{\mathrm{xz}}}$ which is dramatically different from predictions of several standard deuteron wave functions. Polarization-transfer measurements of the deuteron form factor in this $Q^2$ region are therefore a sensitive test of the validity of perturbative QCD for exclusive processes at these momentum transfers.