Bound state and continuum production in large momentum transfer reactions

The cross sections for pp → pnπ+ and pd → pdπ0 are related to those for the corresponding reactions producing bound deuterons and 3Heʹs respectively. The large momentum transfers in the reactions involve short range operators and under these conditions the predictions of continuum cross sections from bound state data are largely model independent at low energies and the constraints can be useful in extrapolations to threshold.