  A theoretical analysis using an impact-parameter description of the
collisions of deuterons with nuclei is carried out in the high-energy
diffraction approximation. It is used to obtain the intensities and integrated
cross sections for elastic scattering, for the emergence of the two incident
nucleons from the collision whether they appear as an elastically scattered
deuteron or as two unbound nucleons, and for the diffraction-induced
dissociation of the deuteron into a free neutron and a free proton, as well as
the total cross section. The cross section for collisions in which one or both
of the nucleons is absorbed is derived in terms of the sum of the
neutron-nucleus and proton-nucleus effective phase shifts. Expressions for the
cross section for processes in which the proton (or neutron) is absorbed
whether the neutron (or proton) is absorbed or not, and for the cross section
for processes in which the neutron (or proton) is absorbed and the proton (or
neutron) remains free are derived. A reduced form of a two-particle density
matrix is introduced to directly derive expressions for the cross section for
two-particle absorption in which both the proton and neutron are absorbed and
for the cross section for stripping processes in which the proton (or neutron)
is absorbed and the neutron (or proton) emerges as a free particle. The
expression for the cross section for the breakup of the deuteron and the
resulting emergence of one or two free nucleons is also derived. The mechanism
by which the diffraction dissociation of the deuteron is induced is understood
in an approximate semi-quantitative basis in classical terms (primarily the
radial derivative of the radial impulse), allowing an estimate of where in the
nuclear potential (beyond the "radius", near the "surface") the dissociation
process tends to predominantly occur.
