Sensitivity of (d, p) Reactions to High n-p Momenta and the Consequences for Nuclear Spectroscopy Studies

Theoretical models of low-energy (d, p) single-neutron transfer reactions are a crucial link between experimentation, nuclear structure, and nuclear astrophysical studies. Whereas reaction models that use local optical potentials are insensitive to short-range physics in the deuteron, we show that including the inherent nonlocality of the nucleon-target interactions and realistic deuteron wave functions generates significant sensitivity to high n-p relative momenta and to the underlying nucleon-nucleon interaction. We quantify this effect upon the deuteron channel distorting potentials within the framework of the adiabatic deuteron breakup model. The implications for calculated (d, p) cross sections and spectroscopic information deduced from experiments are discussed.