The differential cross section for π − p elastic scattering shows a pronounced dip at 180° and incident pion laboratory energies around 57 MeV. This is due to the cancellation of the real parts of the s - and p -wave hadronic scattering amplitudes. The first observation of this dip is reported and the potential of exploiting the destructive interference phenomenon is discussed.

The left-right asymmetry of π−p→γn has been measured using a transversely polarized target at seven pion momenta from 301 to 625 MeV/c, mostly at photon angles of 90° and 110° c.m. The final-state γ and neutron were detected in coincidence. Neutrons were recorded in two arrays of plastic scintillators and the γ's in two matching sets of lead-glass counters. The results are compared with the predictions from the two most recent single-pion photoproduction partial-wave analyses. The agreement with the analysis of Arai and Fujii is poor, casting some doubt on the correctness of their values for the radiative decay amplitude of the neutral Roper resonance which are used widely. The agreement is much better with the results of the VPI analysis. Also, a comparison is made with the recoil-proton polarization data from the inverse reaction measured at 90° with a deuterium target. It reveals substantial discrepancies, indicating the shortcomings of the deuterium experiments for neutron target experiments. Our data are also compared with several bag-model calculations.

The analyzing power of π−p→π0n has been measured for pπ=301−625 MeV/c with a transversely polarized target, mainly in the backward hemisphere. The final-state neutron and a γ from the π0 were detected in coincidence with two counter arrays. Our results are compared with predictions of recent πN partial-wave analyses by the groups of Karlsruhe-Helsinki, Carnegie-Mellon University-Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (CMU-LBL), and Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI). At the lower incident energies little difference is seen among the three analyses, and there is excellent agreement with our data. At 547 MeV/c and above, our data strongly favor the VPI phases, and disagree with Karlsruhe-Helsinki and CMU-LBL analyses, which are the source of the πN resonance parameters given in the Particle Data Group table.

The contradiction of the σ term of pion-nucleon scattering as deduced from the Karlsruhe-Helsinki phase shifts with the smaller value calculated by the chiral perturbation theory of QCD is well known. In an effort to clarify the discrepancy we have determined the real part of the isospin-even forward-scattering amplitude of pion-nucleon scattering at a pion energy Tπ=54.3 MeV by measurement of the elastic scattering of positive and negative pions on protons in the Coulomb-nuclear interference region. The deduced value is in agreement with the prediction of the Karlsruhe-Helsinki phase-shift analysis for that energy. The resulting large value of the σ term may be interpreted as being due to the influence of s¯s sea pairs even at large distances (small Q2) as previously suggested by the European Muon Collaboration measurement of deep-inelastic scattering of polarized muons on polarized protons.

Differential cross sections for π−p→γn have been determined from 427 to 625 MeV/c, mainly at 90° and 110° c.m. The data were obtained by combining measurements of the Panofsky ratio in flight with known charge-exchange cross sections. The results are compared with γn→π−p data derived from γd experiments; the difference is typically 30%. The radiative decay amplitudes of neutral πN resonances are therefore uncertain by at least 30%.

The real part of the isospin-even forward-scattering amplitude of pion-nucleon scattering has been determined at a pion energy of Tπ=55 MeV by measurement of the elastic scattering of positive and negative pions on protons within the Coulomb-nuclear interference region. The value confirms the prediction of the Karlsruhe-Helsinki phase-shift analysis for that energy. These phases have been used to determine the σ term of pion-nucleon scattering by means of dispersion relations, resulting in a value for σ which is in contradiction with chiral perturbation theory of QCD.

Accurate measurements of the left-right asymmetry in π−p→γn at pπ=427−625 MeV/c with a transversely polarized target are reported. Results are compared with the predictions from the Arai and Fujii single-pion photoproduction partial-wave analysis and with data on the inverse process measured with a deuterium target. The agreement is poor, casting doubt on the correctness of the value for the radiative-decay amplitude of the neutral Roper resonance now in use.

Differential cross sections for π + p elastic scattering were measured for seven incident energies from 65 to 140 MeV at laboratory scattering angles between 93° and 165°. The results are compared with previous results of Bertin et al. and the phase-shift analysis of Arndt and Roper. Agreement between the phase-shift analysis and the data is good.

A total of 1589 two-prong events were observed in an exposure of the Brookhaven National Laboratory 14-in. bubble chamber at the Cosmotron. The fit to the elastic angular distribution requires terms through cos4θc.m.. The ratio of the inelastic cross sections σ(π−p→π−π+n)σ(π−p→π−π0p) is 3.75±0.46. The π−p→π−π+n reaction is dominated by formation of the π−n isobar and an enhancement in the di-pion mass spectrum previously reported by Kirz. The π−p→π−π0p reaction shows no structure in the effective-mass spectra.

Interactions of 781-MeV π+ mesons with protons were investigated using the Brookhaven National Laboratory 14-in. hydrogen bubble chamber. A total of 2305 events was observed. The data were normalized to a total cross section of 22.2 mb, giving partial cross sections σ(π+p→π+p)=9.5±0.5 mb, σ(π+p→π+pπ0)=9.3±0.5 mb, σ(π+p→π+π+n)=2.15±0.17 mb, and a multiple-pion-production cross section of 1.15±0.17 mb. The elastic angular distribution was obtained and is dσdω=(0.25±0.03)+(0.90±0.11)cosθc.m.+(2.57±0.24)cos2θc.m.+(0.19±0.22)cos3θc.m.−(1.73±0.34)cos4c.m.. The kinetic-energy and angular distributions of the outgoing particles in single-pion production are given. The data are compared with other experiments in this energy region and their relevance to the shoulder in the π+p total cross section near 830 MeV is discussed.