Background: Proton-induced knockout reactions at intermediate energies provide a clean probe for nuclear clusters with relatively small theoretical uncertainties. The Maris polarization, which is the effective polarization of a particle inside a nucleus arising from nuclear absorption and spin-orbit coupling, has been used in proton knockout to determine the total angular momentum $j$ of the removed protons. However, its manifestation in cluster knockout remains unexplored.

Purpose: I theoretically demonstrated that the Maris polarization can be observed via the vector analyzing power $A_y$ of the proton-induced deuteron knockout $(p,pd)$ reaction in imbalanced kinematics.

Method: First, I computed the spin correlation coefficient $C_{y,y}$ of $p\text{−}d$ elastic scattering, which is an elementary process, to identify suitable kinematics for the Maris polarization. Subsequently, I calculated the $A_y$ values of the $(p,pd)$ reaction at 250 MeV in forward kinematics for deuteron-cluster orbits with $j=1$, 2, and 3.

Result: The large positive $C_{y,y}$ values at $p\text{−}d$ scattering angles of $\approx {40}^{\circ }$ are consistent with the experimental data. In the corresponding $(p,pd)$ kinematics, the signs of $A_y$ for $j=3$ and 1 orbits are positive and negative, respectively, indicating effective upward and downward polarizations of the deuterons in the nucleus. The $A_y$ value for $j=2$ orbit lies between those for the other two orbits, which can also be explained by the Maris polarization, with the deuteron being knocked out from regions near the poles of the $y$ axis. These results are nearly independent of the internal state of the deuteron and the nucleon-nucleon effective interactions used to describe the elementary process.

Conclusion: I theoretically demonstrated that the Maris polarization occurs in the $(p,pd)$ reaction under imbalanced kinematics. This work may provide information on the orbital motion of the deuteron cluster in a nucleus and could lead to the establishment of the concept of deuteron-cluster orbit. Further experimental and theoretical studies are required to improve the quantitative understanding of this effect.

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• Direct reactions
• Knockout reactions
• Nuclear reactions
• Nucleon induced nuclear reactions
• Polarization phenomena
• Optical, coupled-channel & distorted wave models