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The process γ+p→π0+p has been studied by detecting recoil protons from a liquid hydrogen target which was bombarded by the bremsstrahlung beam of the California Institute of Technology electron synchrotron. The angle and momentum of the recoil protons were measured by a magnetic spectrometer-three scintillation counter coincidence system. The process has been studied between photon laboratory energies of 490 and 940 Mev and between pion center-of-mass angles of 31.5° and 147°. Protons which arose from meson pair production were significant at forward laboratory angles. A correction for this contamination is discussed. The results of these measurements show two interesting features. One is that the total cross section, which falls very rapidly above the 32−32 resonance energy near 320 Mev, reaches a minimum at about 600 Mev, and then increases to a broad maximum near 800 or 900 Mev. The other striking feature of the data is that the shape of the angular distribution seems to change rather suddenly near 900 Mev.

Gamma-rays from the decay of neutral pions photoproduced from hydrogen by the bremsstrahlung beam of the Caltech synchrotron have been studied with a thallium chloride crystal total absorption spectrometer. The energy spectrum of the decay gamma-rays produced by a range of incident photon energy is obtained by the photon difference method and this spectrum enables a separation of the gamma-rays into two groups: (i) those from the decay of neutral pions produced singly from hydrogen and (ii) those from the decay of neutral pions from multipleproduction reactions. The cross sections for the single-production reaction are in agreement with the recoil proton experiments at Caltech and Cornell. For the multiple-production reactions we measure the cross section for producing neutral pions within a range of kinetic energies: It is shown that all available multiple-production data can be explained in terms of two compound states, one at about 750 Mev and the other at some higher energy. This is in agreement with an analysis of the single-photoproduction data, which is given in an appendix. These two states are, respectively, (T=12, J=12+) and (T=32, J=12+).

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Cross sections for the photoproduction of neutral pions have been measured at the 1.1-GeV Frascati electron synchrotron for bombarding photon energies k between 400 and 800 MeV and for π0 c.m. angles of θπ*=90∘, 120∘, and 135∘. The main feature of the experiment is good resolution in incident photon energy. The results are in good agreement with the existing theories in the energy range of 450 to 550 MeV. The cross sections exhibit a smooth behavior as a function of energy for k=400−600 MeV. No immediate evidence is found of a contribution of the P11 resonance. An anomaly at the limit of statistical significance appears for k≃700−740 MeV, indicating a possible structure of the so-called second resonance. We attempt to interpret the observed anomaly as a reflection of the sharp opening of the η production channel (η cusp effect).

At the Bonn 500 MeV electron synchrotron the reaction γ+р=р+π0 has been studied for energies belowEγ=222 MeV using nuclear emulsions inside a low-pressure hydrogen gas target to detect the recoil protons. Angular distributions of the neutral pion were obtained for the energiesEγ=159, 180, 206 MeV (or, alternatively,Eγ=166, 195 MeV with a different grouping of tracks). In general they are in good agreement with other experimental data in the same energy region, and join also smoothly to recent measurements at higher energies. The agreement with recent theoretical approaches is fairly good in the coefficientsA andB of the expansion dσ/dΩ=A+B cos Ψ+C cos2 Ψ, but the theoretical values of the coefficientC are definitely too positive.

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New results are presented on the differential cross-section for the reaction α+p→π0+p, at energies between 600 and 1000 MeV, and c.m. pion angles Θ*π=40° and Θ*π=60°. The present data, together with that at Θ*π=40° already published (11), show an angle-independent position of the second resonance at about 750 MeV. Rather flat angular distributions in the forward c.m. hemisphere are also favoured by these data. On comparing the cross-sections obtained when detecting both the neutral pion and the recoil proton, and when detecting only the latter, estimates of the background of «ghost protons» are obtained, in agreement with the empirical curve proposed in ref. (11).

The polarization of the recoil proton in the photoproduction process γ+p→p+π0 has been measured with the beam of the Frascati electrosynchrotron at an angle of 90° in the c.m. system, in the energy interval (500÷900) MeV. A counter technique has been used, and the polarization of the proton was revealed by the left to right asymmetry in the elastic scattering of the protons in a carbon target. The experimental results are given in Table III and in Fig. 10. A definite polarization is found, always of the same sign and equal to −0.4±.14, −0.63±.23, −0.6±.25, −0.57±.12, −0.38±.09, −0.5±.17, −0.5±.22 at the γ-ray energies of 560, 610, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850 MeV respectively. The discussion of these experimental results, together with the data of angular dstributions, allows to conclude that they are in agreement with the hypothesis that the second resonance is a transition (E 1,d 3/2) and the third one is a transition (E 2,f 3/2).

Differential cross-sections have been measured for π0 photoproduction over the energy range 0.8 GeV to 1.4 GeV and at angles between 50° and 90° c.m.

The polarization of the recoil proton in γ + p → p + π0 has been measured at photon energies of 725 MeV and 900 MeV for centerof-mass angles near 90° using a small propane-ethane gas bubble chamber. Protons emerging from a liquid hydrogen target are momentum-analysed with a magnet, and the scattering from carbon observed in the bubble chamber. A counter telescope rejects pions and electrons, and protons from multiple pion processes are discriminated against by keeping the peak bremsstrahlung energy just above the mean photon energy. The visual method of observing scattering asymmetries has the advantage of being insensitive to systematic asymmetries in the incoming proton flux. It also quickly eliminates strongly inelastic scatters (stars), and provides a complete angular distribution from which the fraction of scatters which are inelastic can be deduced. The effect of inelastic scatters upon the scattering asymmetry is large when the energy-loss resolution is poor, an inherent problem with bremsstrahlung beams. The counting rate for this small chamber (3.4g/cm2 carbon scatterer) was 11 scatters/hour using every 5th synchrotron pulse; larger chambers with more dense scatterers (such as Freon) could give higher counting rates. Results are fork = 725MeV and ϑ (pion) = 87° (cm.), P=0.74±0.20, and for k=900MeV and ϑ (pion) = 70°, P=.51±.7. P is taken to be positive along the directionK xp, wherep is the momentum of the outgoing proton.

New formulae for constructing the pion photoproduction amplitude J from experimental data are presented. The phase of J is expressed in terms of its zeroes in the energy plane, the particle poles and a dispersion integral over the modulus of J , the latter being given, except for a finite unphysical interval, in terms of differential cross sections and recoil nucleon polarizations. For γ p→ π + n at t ≈−0.870 μ 2 , where the unphysical-region contribution vanishes, the zeroes are found approximately, so that the phase of J can be uniquely determined from the experimental data.

The elastic scattering of photons by protons has been measured for 100 MeV to 290 MeV photons at 90° c.m.s. and 139° c.m.s. scattering angles. The expected large increase in cross-section is observed at energies approaching that of (3/2, 3/2) pion-nucleon resonance. The scattering can be qualitatively explained by the ordinary Thomson amplitude combined with that of the (3/2, 3/2) resonance. A more detailed examination of the cross-section in the region just above the photo-meson threshold has shown that it is sensitive to the π0 photon coupling. From the experimental data, one may conclude that the π0 mean life should be between 10−16 and 10−18 s.