We report on the sensitivity of the triton binding energy to the $D$-state probability $P_D$ in the deuteron. Based on a recently proposed energy-dependent separable potential, the ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}S_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}-{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}D_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ interaction is constructed in such a way that while varying $P_D$, the off-shell and on-shell behavior of the nucleon-nucleon forces employed (phase shifts are taken directly from experiment) are independent of the choice of $P_D$. The increase of $P_D$ within the experimental bounds from 4% to 7% decreases the triton binding energy by ≈0.55-0.60 MeV. These values are in very good agreement with the results obtained for the Reid potential by Harms et al., which differ strongly from the results by Brady et al.

• Received 3 April 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.32.660