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Direction of Polarization of Proton Spin produced by Elastic Scattering

Abstract

BEAMS of high-energy protons with spin polarization are produced by scattering unpolarized protons from nuclei1,2. If the protons are scattered elastically, the polarization is considerably larger than if the scattering occurs by inelastic processes3,4. A theoretical interpretation has been suggested by Fermi and others5, which demonstrates that the polarization of the elastically scattered beam may be accounted for as a consequence of the spin orbit-coupling postulated in the nuclear shell model of Mayer and Jensen. This hypothesis gives correctly the magnitude of the observed polarization, and in addition predicts the direction of the polarization. In particular, if the scattering is to the right at small angles, this hypothesis requires the predominant spin direction to be downward.

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MARSHALL, L., MARSHALL, J. Direction of Polarization of Proton Spin produced by Elastic Scattering. Nature 174, 1184–1185 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/1741184a0

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