Reduced nuclear helicity amplitudes: Deuteron form factors

We extend the reduced nuclear amplitude (RNA) approach of Brodsky and Chertok for exclusive nuclear processes to include helicity amplitudes. As with the original RNA method, the soft QCD physics of nucleons is represented by model or empirical form factors, while the fundamental hard-scattering process is treated perturbatively, represented by an elemental tree diagram. Our extension uses G_E for a nucleon that does not flip its helicity and G_M for one that does, with these form factors evaluated at the net momentum transfer to the nucleon. The particular quantities discussed in this talk are those associated with elastic electron-deuteron scattering: form factors, structure functions, and tensor polarization observables. These provide estimates of the momentum transfer required for scaling onset.