General analysis of polarization effects in coherent pseudoscalar photo- and electroproduction of mesons on the deuteron
Résumé
General expressions for the unpolarized differential cross section and for various polarization observables in coherent pseudoscalar meson photo- and electroproduction on a deuteron target have been obtained in the one-photon-exchange approximation. The spin structure of the matrix element is explicitly derived in terms of structure functions. The correspondence with the helicity amplitudes is given. The polarization effects have been investigated for the case of a longitudinally polarized electron beam and a vector or tensor polarized deuteron target. The polarization (vector or tensor) of the scattered deuteron for the case of an unpolarized or a longitudinally polarized electron beam is also considered. In the case of the photoproduction reaction, we consider a linearly, circularly, or elliptically polarized photon beam. Numerical estimations have been done for the unpolarized differential cross section and for some polarization observables.