Antinucleon-nucleus annihilations into two-body final states containing only one or no meson are unusual annihilations (Pontecorvo reactions), practically unexplored experimentally, with the exception of the channel p d → π − p , for which only two low-statistics measurements exist. Their physical interest lies in the possibility of exploring small-distance nuclear dynamics, in which an important role can be played by non-nucleonic degrees of freedom. A new measurement of the p d → π − p reaction rate at rest, performed with the OBELIX spectrometer at LEAR, with the best statistics up to now and a careful evaluation of systematic effects is reported, together with a critical analysis of the existing theoretical models. The measured branching ratio, which confirms the previous results, can represent a reference point for the studies in the field.
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