Reaction $sup 6$Li(p,pt) at 590 MeV

The cross section (d/sup 5/ sigma /d OMEGA /sub p/d OMEGA /sub t/dT/sub p/) for the reaction /sup 6/Li(p, pt) has been measured in a kinematically complete experiment. The energy resolution did not allow for an identification of thc final-state residual nucleus. The cross-section data obtained, when analyzed in terms of the recoil momentum of the three-nucleen residual system, has the shape characteristic of an S state for the relative motion of the triton. If the cross section is fitted with a Gaussian the width at l/e is GAMMA = 100 plus or minus 2O MeV/c, and the cross section at zero recoil is 490 plus or minus 120 nb/sr/sup 2/ MeV. The width observed is twice as large as obtained in previous lower-energy experiments, but only slightly larger than predicted by / sup 6/Li-cluster-model calculations. (auth)