The production of direct photons has been measured relative to π 0 's in the rapidity range 2.00 < y < 2.75 in pp collisions at s = 63 GeV at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings. The γ/π 0 ratio increases from ⪅2% at p T = 1.5 GeV/ c to ∼8% at p T = 4.25 GeV/ c , similar to the value observed near 90°. The results indicate no strong enhancement of single-photon production due to quark bremsstrahlung in this kinematic region.
We have searched for direct photons of low PT (≤1.0 GeV/c) at θc.m.=90° in pp collisions at √s =63 GeV. We used two independent methods: direct detection in NaI crystals and conversion to e+e− pairs. No signal is observed; the photon spectrum is well described by the decay of hadrons. The result is consistent with a direct low-PT photon signal reported at √s =12 GeV, but excludes a rapid growth of soft-photon production with √s .
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Cross sections for inclusive direct photon production in π−p, π+p, and pp collisions at 300 GeV/c are measured at transverse momenta pT up to 7 GeV/c (xT=0.6). For π−p→γX also the rapidity distribution is presented. The cross-section ratio σ(π−p→γX)/σ(π+p→γX) is found to be 1 at pT=4 GeV/c and rises with increasing pT. This observation signals the occurrence of valence-quark–antiquark annihilation. The results are in good agreement with QCD predictions.
Direct photon production cross sections obtained in high statistics p ̄ p and pp collisions at s =24.3 GeV at the CERN SPS are used in a next-to-leading order QCD analysis. From the cross section difference σ( p ̄ p → γX)−σ(pp → γX) and quark distributions measured in deep inelastic scattering, a determination of the strong coupling constant, α s , is performed via a measurement of Λ (4) MS . This measurement yields a value Λ (4) MS = 210±22 ( stat. )±44 ( syst. ) +105 −36 ( theo. ) MeV. The corresponding value of α s expressed at M 2 Z is α s (M 2 Z )=0.1112 ±0.0016 ( stat. ) ±0.0033 ( syst. ) +0.0077 −0.0034 ( theo. ) .