Elastic Pion Scattering on the Deuteron in a Multiple Scattering Model

Pion elastic scattering on deuterium is studied in the KMT multiple scattering approach developed in momentum space. Using a Paris wave function and the same methods and approximations as commonly used in pion scattering on heavier nuclei excellent agreement with differential cross section data is obtained for a wide range of pion energies. Only for $T_{\pi}>250$ MeV and very backward angles, discrepancies appear that are reminiscent of disagreements in pion scattering on $^3$He, $^3$H, and $^4$He. At low energies the second order corrections have been included. Polarization observables are studied in detail. While tensor analyzing powers are well reproduced, vector analyzing powers exhibit dramatic discrepancies.