STUDY OF BOUND AND SCATTERING STATES IN 3-NUCLEON SYSTEMS

A variational technique to describe the ground state and scattering st ates below the break-up threshold for a three-nucleon system is develo ped. The method consists in expanding the wave function in terms of co rrelated harmonic hyperspherical functions suitable to handle the larg e repulsion contained in the nuclear potential at short distances; thr ee-body forces have also been considered. The inclusion of the pp Coul omb repulsion in the p-d processes does not cause any particular probl em, since no partial wave decomposition of the interaction is performe d. Accurate numerical results are given for ground state properties an d scattering lengths, phase shifts and mixing parameters at three diff erent energies of the incident nucleon. The agreement with other avail able results and with experimental analyses is highly satisfactory.