I discuss the peculiarities of scattering in a three-proton system induced by the presence of an entangled proton-proton Bell-like state in the initial configuration. I formulate the problem using the standard spin formalism of nuclear physics in order to follow in detail the reaction pathways leading to the teleportation of a quantum-mechanical state within this system. By performing numerical simulations of the system and calculations based on a realistic nucleon-nucleon potential, I evaluate the relevant spin observables and search for a simple, experimentally feasible signal that could provide clear evidence of quantum teleportation. For the case in which proton 2, belonging to the entangled proton pair 23, interacts with hydrogen target 1, thereby triggering the teleportation process, I find clear evidence of teleportation through measurements of the final polarization of proton $3^{\prime }$, even for small values of the polarization of target proton 1. The dominant component of this polarization is transferred almost entirely from target proton 1 to proton $3^{\prime }$ in the angular region characterized by strong entanglement. For an unpolarized target proton 1, quantum teleportation is no longer possible. The only unambiguous signature of the residual quantum correlations would be provided by measurements of the spin correlations within the strongly entangled final-state proton pair $1^{\prime }{2}^{\prime }$. Indirect evidence may also be obtained from measurements of the polarization of proton $2^{\prime }$ in the final state, although the corresponding effect is relatively weak.

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• Elastic scattering reactions
• Few-body systems
• Nucleon-nucleon interactions
• Polarization phenomena