The reaction γ + p → Φ + p has been measured using a spark chamber spectrometer and a tagged photon beam in the energy range from 4.6 to 6.7 GeV. Approximately 3500 photoproduced elastic Φ-events have been collected in the t -range between t min and t = −0.4 (GeV/ c ) 2 . Cross sections and t -distributions are presented.

A comprehensive survey of event-by-event fluctuations of charged hadron multiplicity in relativistic heavy ions is presented. The survey covers Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV, and Cu+Cu collisions sqrt(s_NN) = 22.5, 62.4, and 200 GeV. Fluctuations are measured as a function of collision centrality, transverse momentum range, and charge sign. After correcting for non-dynamical fluctuations due to fluctuations in the collision geometry within a centrality bin, the remaining dynamical fluctuations expressed as the variance normalized by the mean tend to decrease with increasing centrality. The dynamical fluctuations are consistent with or below the expectation from a superposition of participant nucleon-nucleon collisions based upon p+p data, indicating that this dataset does not exhibit evidence of critical behavior in terms of the compressibility of the system. An analysis of Negative Binomial Distribution fits to the multiplicity distributions demonstrates that the heavy ion data exhibit weak clustering properties.

We present evidence for the exclusive reaction e+e−→Ds±Ds*∓, observed with the Mark III detector at the SLAC storage ring SPEAR. The Ds± is reconstructed in the φπ± decay mode, while the Ds*∓ is detected as a narrow peak in the recoil-mass distribution. The mass of the Ds* is found to be 2109.3±2.1±3.1 MeV/c2, yielding a Ds*−Ds mass difference of 137.9±2.1±4.3 MeV/c2. The width of the Ds* is <22 MeV/c2 at the 90%-confidence level. The observed signal corresponds to σ(e+e−→Ds+Ds*−+Ds−Ds*+)B(Ds+→φπ+)=30±6±11 pb at s=4.14 GeV.

The three polarization tensor components of the deuteron produced in the H( p , d )π + reaction have been measured for the first time. The experiment was performed using a vertically polarized proton beam produced by the SATURNE accelerator. The deuteron polarization was measured with the POLDER polarimeter. The three polarizing powers t 20 00 , t 21 00 and t 22 00 and the three spin-transfer observables t 20 11 , t 22 11 and t 22 11 have been extracted at a proton kinetic energy of 580 MeV over a wide angular range and at two fixed center-of-mass angles, 132° and 151°, between 800 and 1300 MeV. The six observables, calculated in the C.M. helicity frame, have been compared with predictions of the most refined partial-wave analyses and also with the predictions of a theoretical coupled-channel model which includes the NN-NΔ transition. The comparison between the data and the theory/partial-wave analyses shows some discrepancies which get worse with increasing proton energy. Adding these data to the world database should improve significantly future partial-wave analyses. The A y 0 analyzing power has also been measured over the same kinematical range. The partial-wave analysis predictions are in good agreement with this observable.

The differential cross section of the reaction ( γ p → p φ ) has been measured in the t range 0 ⩽ t ⩽ 0.4 GeV 2 and for photon energies from 3.0 to 6.7 GeV. In particular for the small t region the measurement accuracy was better than 10%. We obtained for the slope parameter B in an exponential parametrization of the differential cross section d σ /d t = A e − Bt values of B ⋍ 6 ± 0.5 GeV −2 which are significantly larger than the slopes obtained by most other experiments at higher t values. This indicates a t dependence of B particularly in the small t region.

A direct experimental reconstruction of the five complex pp elastic-scattering amplitudes has been performed at 447, 497, 517, 539, and 579 MeV. The reconstruction is done over the c.m. angles from 38° to 90° and is based on either 11 or 15 spin observables depending on the angular range. The reconstructed amplitudes are presented and compared to phase-shift analysis. A smooth energy behavior is observed for the amplitudes.

We have measured the differential cross section d2σdΩdTπ and the polarization parameter P for the production of π+ and π− in various target nuclei (H1, H2, Be, C, O, Al, Ni, Cu, Mo, and Pb) by protons with a kinetic energy of 585 MeV, for production angles θπ=22.5°, 45°, 60°, 90°, and 135°, and for pion kinetic energies Tπ of 24, 35, 46, 88, 151, 192, and 254 MeV (all quantities in the laboratory system). Our data disagree strongly with recent data for 580-MeV protons. On the other hand, for pion energies up to 150 MeV, our cross sections differ little from those measured for a proton energy of 730 MeV. For nuclei with A>20, the total production cross sections σ(π+) and σ(π−) show the Z13 and N23 proportionality expected from theoretical arguments. There is evidence in our data of a shift of the π+ energy distributions compared to the π− distributions due to the effects of the Coulomb field of the nuclear protons on the emitted pions. NUCLEAR REACTIONS H1, H2, Be, C, O, Al, Ni, Cu, Mo, Pb p, π±, Tp=585 MeV; measured σ(Tπ, θπ) and asymmetry parameter P(Tπ, θπ).

Cross sections for the reactions γp→K+Λ and γp→K+Σ0 have been measured at squared four-momentum transfer (−t) from 0.005 to 2 GeV2, at photon energies 5, 8, 11, and 16 GeV. For −t>0.2 GeV2 each of the K+ cross sections is about ⅓ of the π+n photoproduction cross section, having nearly the same energy and momentum-transfer dependence. The K+ cross sections fall off at small |t|, however, in contrast to the sharp forward spike seen in π+n; this leads to a disagreement with an SU(3) prediction for −t<0.1 GeV2. The ratio of K+Σ0 to K+Λ cross sections is typically between 0.5 and 1.0.

The cross section for γp→π−Δ++(1236), measured at 5, 8, 11, and 16 GeV from nearzero momentum transfer to -1 GeV2 (-2 GeV2 at 16 GeV), rises from small t to a maximum near −t=mπ2, then falls as e12t out to −t≈0.2 GeV2, after which it becomes roughly equal in slope and magnitude to the single π+ photoproduction cross section (e3t). At fixed t, the cross section varies as k−2, where k is the laboratory photon energy. The results do not agree well with the simple vector-dominance model.

Total and differential cross sections for the reaction p(gamma, eta)p have been measured for photon energies in the range from 750 MeV to 3 GeV. The low-energy data are dominated by the S11 wave which has two poles in the energy region below 2 GeV. Eleven nucleon resonances are observed in their decay into p eta. At medium energies we find evidence for a new resonance N(2070)D15 with (mass, width) = (2068+-22, 295+-40) MeV. At photon energies above 1.5 GeV, a strong peak in forward direction develops, signalling the exchange of vector mesons in the t channel.