The STAR Collaboration reports on the photoproduction of $\pi^+\pi^-$ pairs in gold-gold collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV/nucleon-pair. These pion pairs are produced when a nearly-real photon emitted by one ion scatters from the other ion. We fit the $\pi^+\pi^-$ invariant mass spectrum with a combination of $\rho$ and $\omega$ resonances and a direct $\pi^+\pi^-$ continuum. This is the first observation of the $\omega$ in ultra-peripheral collisions, and the first measurement of $\rho-\omega$ interference at energies where photoproduction is dominated by Pomeron exchange. The $\omega$ amplitude is consistent with the measured $\gamma p\rightarrow \omega p$ cross section, a classical Glauber calculation and the $\omega\rightarrow\pi^+\pi^-$ branching ratio. The $\omega$ phase angle is similar to that observed at much lower energies, showing that the $\rho-\omega$ phase difference does not depend significantly on photon energy. The $\rho^0$ differential cross section $d\sigma/dt$ exhibits a clear diffraction pattern, compatible with scattering from a gold nucleus, with 2 minima visible. The positions of the diffractive minima agree better with the predictions of a quantum Glauber calculation that does not include nuclear shadowing than with a calculation that does include shadowing.
The $\pi^+\pi^-$ invariant-mass distribution for all selected $\pi\pi$ candidates with $p_T~<~100~\textrm{MeV}/c$.
The ratio $|B/A|$ of amplitudes of nonresonant $\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\rho^0$ mesons in the present STAR analysis.
The ratio $|B/A|$ of amplitudes of nonresonant $\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\rho^0$ mesons in the previous STAR analysis, Phys. Rev. C 77 034910 (2008).
Cross-sections for diffractive particle production and pseudorapidity distributions of the decay products of diffractive states are presented. The data were obtained with the UA 5 streamer chamber detector at the CERNpp Collider operated in a new pulsed mode yieldingpp interactions at c.m. energies of 900 and 200 GeV. Data recorded with a special trigger designed to select a sample of events enriched in single-diffractive interactions clearly favour apt-limited fragmentation of diffractive states. The cross-section for single-diffractive particle production ϊ was found to be 7.8±0.5±1.1 mb at 900 GeV and 4.8±0.5±0.8 mb at 200 GeV (first error statistical, second systematic). From the pseudorapidity distribution of diffractive states we deduce the average number of charged particles to be 6.5±1.0 at 900 GeV and 4.1±1.1 at 200 GeV. Furthermore we report on our estimates for the cross-section of double-diffractive particle production at both Collider energies.
Single diffractive cross sections.
We present results from a measurement of double diffraction dissociation in $\bar pp$ collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The production cross section for events with a central pseudorapidity gap of width $\Delta\eta^0>3$ (overlapping $\eta=0$) is found to be $4.43\pm 0.02{(stat)}{\pm 1.18}{(syst) mb}$ [$3.42\pm 0.01{(stat)}{\pm 1.09}{(syst) mb}$] at $\sqrt{s}=1800$ [630] GeV. Our results are compared with previous measurements and with predictions based on Regge theory and factorization.
Cross sections for double diffractive production.
Using the UA5 detector, the inclusive central production of Ks<sup loc="post">0</sup> and K<sup loc="post">±</sup> mesons has been measured in non-single-diffractive interactions at the CERN SPS <math altimg="si1.gif"><ovl type="bar" style="s">p</ovl>p</math> Collider at a c.m. energy of 540 GeV. The average transverse momentum is found to be 〈pT〉 = 0.57±0.03 GeV/c in the rapidity range |y|<2.5, which is an increase of about 30% over the top ISR energy. The K/π ratio has increased from about 8% at ISR energies to 9.5±0.9±0.7% (the last error is systematic) at 540 GeV. The average number of Ks<sup loc="post">0</sup> per non-single-diffractive event is 1.1±0.1 and the inclusive inelastic cross section is estimated at 49±5 mb.
NON SINGLE DIFFRACTION CROSS SECTION.
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