Kinematically complete measurements of the $pp\to pp\pi^{0}$ reaction were performed for beam energies in the range $292 - 298 $MeV. By detecting both protons in coincidence with the large acceptance COSY-TOF spectrometer set up at an external beam line of the proton synchrotron COSY-Julich, total and differential cross sections and energy distributions were obtained. A strong enhancement is observed in the Dalitz plots resulting from the final state interaction between the outgoing proton pair: the data are well reproduced by Monte Carlo simulations with standard parameters for scattering length $a_0$=-7.83 fm and effective range $r_0$=2.8 fm. The total cross sections exceed the ones measured recently in internal target experiments at IUCF and CELSIUS by roughly 50%. Arguments are presented which link this discrepancy with the effect of the final state interaction pushing yield into the very small-angle region and the near-impossibility of an internal target experiment to cover just this range.
Total P P --> P P PI0 cross section.
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