Theoretical Description of the pd -> pd eta Reaction Near Threshold

The contributions of three different types of driving terms are included in the estimation of the pd -> pd eta reaction at low energies. Near threshold, it is predicted that a two-step model involving an intermediate pion should be the most important but, as the energy approaches the threshold for eta production in the free nucleon–nucleon reaction, a pick-up mechanism with a spectator proton should become dominant. The total cross sections are underestimated by about a factor of two compared to experimental data but the discrepancies in the angular distributions are more serious, with no sign in the data for the peaks corresponding to the pick–up diagram.