Compton Scattering on Light Nuclei

The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.

^a e-mail: dshukla@physics.unc.edu

Abstract

Compton scattering on light nuclei (A = 2, 3) has emerged as an effective avenue to search for signatures of neutron polarizabilities, both spin–independent and spin–dependent ones. In this discussion I will focus on the theoretical aspect of Compton scattering on light nuclei; giving first a brief overview and therafter concentrating on our Compton scattering calculations based on Chiral effective theory at energies of the order of pion mass. These elastic γd and γHe-3 calculations include nucleons, pions as the basic degrees of freedom. I will also discuss γd results where the ∆-isobar has been included explicitly. Our results on unpolarized and polarization observables suggest that a combination of experiments and further theoretical efforts will provide an extraction of the neutron polarizabilities.