Quenching of the Deuteron in Flight

Abstract

We investigate the Lorentz contraction of a deuteron in flight. Our starting point is the Blankenbecler-Sugar projection of the Bethe-Salpeter equation to a 3-dimensional quasi potential equation and apply it for the deuteron bound in an harmonic oscillator potential (for an analytical result) or by the Bonn NN potential for a more realistic estimate. We find substantial quenching with increasing external momentum and a significant modification of the high momentum spectrum of the deuteron.