We report the results of the investigation of 18 500 frames of π+p interactions in the Brookhaven 20-in. bubble chamber at an incident energy of 900 MeV. It is found that single-pion production proceeds almost entirely through formation of the N33* isobar. The production mechanism of the N33* is analyzed in terms of its spin density matrix. Comparison is made with Stodolsky and Sakurai's ρ-exchange model and with the absorptive peripheral model.

A determination of branching ratios for D meson decays into all charged particle final states is reported. The values obtained: (D ± → K ∓ π ± π ± /all D ± ) = (14 ± 6)% and ( D 0 /D 0 → K ± π ∓ π + π − /all D 0 /D 0 ) = (10 ± 4)%, are higher than those currently accepted. This result, if confirmed, implies a corresponding reduction in the accepted values for some total cross section measurements. Revised inclusive cross sections for D meson production in the forward hemisphere in π − p and pp interactions at 360 GeV/ c , are presented.

Based on a sample of 22 four-prong D 0 / D 0 decays produced in hydrogen by 360 GeV/ c π − , we present the following new results: mean lifetime τ = (3.5 −0.9 +1.4 ) x 10 −13 s ; production cross section for x F > 0.0, σ = (10.3 ± 3.5) ωb ; the D → K ± π ± π + π − branching ratio = (7.1 ± 2.5)%.

A graphite-plate spark chamber has been used to analyze the polarization of protons recoiling from π−−p scattering. The observations were made at 90° (c.m. system) pion scattering angle for seven incident pion energies between 500 and 940 Mev, at 120° or 135° for five energies in this interval, and also at 75° for 500 Mev only. The results are compared with predictions of several models used to explain the maxima in the π−−p scattering cross section. Qualitative arguments show that the energy intervals between these maxima are not completely dominated by neighboring single-state resonances. Phase shifts found to be large in scattering also seem to be large in polarization.

Using new data from 100 GeV c π − interactions, we find the energy dependence of the invariant cross-section in the target fragmentation (central) region to be consistent with an A + Bs − 1 2 (C + Ds − 1 4 ) behavior. The leading particle peak near x = + 1 exhibits a width in x which becomes smaller with increasing energy and an integrated cross section which is approximately energy independent.

An extensive investigation of antiproton-proton interactions at 5.7 GeV/c without strange-particle production was carried out using a hydrogen bubble chamber. Cross-sections for different channels are given and discussed. The reliability of the analysis was checked using artificially generated events. The cross-sections for elastic scattering, for all processes involving annihilation, and for all other inelastic processes are respectively σel=(16.3±0.6)mb,σannlbil=(22.5±2.0)mb, σinel=(24.8±2.0)mb. TheN * 1:38 is present both in the single and multiple pion production channels. For the reaction MediaObjects/11539_2007_Article_BF02720569_f1.jpg a cross-section of (1.05±0.21) mb was obtained. Cross-sections forN * 1238 production in other channels are also given. Some indication of the presence ofI=1/2 isobars was found in the nucleon-pion and the nucleon-two-pion systems. The inelastic nonannihilation reactions were found to be strongly peripheral. The one-pion exchange model including either a form factor or corrections for absorption was applied to the reaction MediaObjects/11539_2007_Article_BF02720569_f2.jpg . Neither version of the model could correctly account for all features of the reaction. The average number of pions in the annihilation was found to be 7.3±0.6. The presence of an asymmetry in the angular distribution of the charged pions was confirmed at this energy; it is due mostly to high-energy pions. The production of ρ and ω mesons was observed in various annihilation channels. Rates of up to 80% for ρ production and up to 15% for ω production were obtained by fitting phase-space and Breit-Wigner curves to the effective-mass distributions of different channels.

Approximately 60 000 events have been collected in a spark chamber experiment at the CERN Proton Synchrotron which studied elastic diffraction scattering of π--p and p-p at incident momenta of 8.5, 12.4 and 18.4 GeV/c and of π+-p at 8.5 and 12.4 GeV/c. Magnetic analysis of the incoming and diffraction scattered particle, together with measurement of all angles, permitted each event to be determined as elastic subject to three constraints, so that the inelastic background was rejected with. high efficiency, even at the larger momentum, transfers. Much of the data have been processed by the CERN Automatic Flying-Spot DigitizerHPD. A detailed description of the experimental technique and of the methods of analysis is given. The results, together with data from lower energies, confirm the remarkable energy-independence of the shape of the pion-proton diffraction scattering peak up to |t| = 1.5 (GeV/c)2, wheret is the square of the four-momentum transfer, over a range of pion energies from 2 to 18 GeV. Proton-proton scattering does however appear to show a shrinking diffraction peak. In general, the data agree with other experiments using both counter and bubble chamber techniques, but some differences do appear. During the experiment, data were taken which set an upper limit of 2·102 μb/(GeV/c)2 on the differential elastic cross-section dσ/dt over a range of |t| from 20.9 to 23.4 (GeV/c)2 at 13.4 GeV/c incident pion momentum.

Differential cross sections for the reaction π−p→π0n were measured at nine incident-pion kinetic energies in the interval from 500 to 1300 MeV. The negative pion beam from the bevatron was focused on a liquidhydrogen target completely surrounded by a cubic array of six steel-plate spark chambers. The spark chambers were triggered on events with neutral final states. Charge-exchange events were identified from the one-shower and two-shower events in the spark-chamber pictures. By the Monte Carlo technique, the π0 distributions were calculated from the bisector distributions of the two-shower π0 events together with the observed γ-ray distributions of the one-shower π0 events. These π0 distributions were fitted with both Legendre-polynomial expansions and power-series expansions by the method of least squares. The extrapolated forward differential cross sections are in good agreement with the dispersion calculations. The Legendre coefficients for the differential cross sections in isospin state T=12 were obtained by combining our results with available data on π±p elastic scattering. In the light of existing phase-shift solutions, the behavior of these coefficients is discussed. The D5F5 interference term that peaks near 900 MeV is verified to be in isospin state T=12 only. We report here also the total neutral cross sections and the cross sections for the production of neutral multipion final states 2π0n and 3π0n. The 4π solid angle and the calibrated energy response of the spark chambers contribute to the accuracy of the results.

Report on the investigation of interactions in π−p collisions at a pion momentum of 1.59 GeV/c, by means of the 50 cm Saclay liquid hydrogen bubble chamber, operating in a magnetic field of 17.5 kG. The results obtained concern essentially the elastic scattering and the inelastic scattering accompanied by the production of either a single pion in π−p→ pπ−π0 and nπ−π+ interactions, or by more than one pion in four-prong events. The observed angular distribution for the elastic scattering in the diffraction region, can be approximated by an exponential law. From the extrapolated value, thus obtained for the forward scattering, one gets σel= (9.65±0.30) mb. Effective mass spectra of π−π0 and π−π+ dipions are given in case of one-pion production. Each of them exhibits the corresponding ρ− or ρ0 resonances in the region of ∼ 29μ2 (μ = mass of the charged pion). The ρ peaks are particularly conspicuous for low momentum transfer (Δ2) events. The ρ0 distribution presents a secondary peak at ∼31μ2 due probably to the ω0 → π−π+ process. The branching ratio (ω0→ π+π−)/(ω0→ π+π− 0) is estimated to be ∼ 7%. The results are fairly well interpreted in the frame of the peripheral interaction according to the one-pion exchange (OPE) model, Up to values of Δ2/μ2∼10. In particular, the ratio ρ−/ρ0 is of the order of 0.5, as predicted by this model. Furthermore, the distribution of the Treiman-Yang angle is compatible with an isotropic one inside the ρ. peak. The distribution of\(\sigma _{\pi ^ + \pi ^ - } \), as calculated by the use of the Chew-Low formula assumed to be valid in the physical region of Δ2, gives a maximum which is appreciably lower than the value of\(12\pi \tilde \lambda ^2 = 120 mb\) expected for a resonant elastic ππ scattering in a J=1 state at the peak of the ρ. However, a correcting factor to the Chew-Low formula, introduced by Selleri, gives a fairly good agreement with the expected value. Another distribution, namely the Δ2 distribution, at least for Δ2 < 10 μ2, agrees quite well with the peripheral character of the interaction involving the ρ resonance. π− angular distributions in the rest frame of the ρ exhibit a different behaviour for the ρ− and for the ρ0. Whereas the first one is symmetrical, as was already reported in a previous paper, the latter shows a clear forward π− asymmetry. The main features of the four-prong results are: 1) the occurrence of the 3/2 3/2 (ρπ+) isobar in π−p → pπ+π−π− events and 2) the possible production of the ω0→ π+π−π0 resonance in π−p→ pπ−π+π−π0 events. No ρ’s were observed in four-prong events.

We present single inclusive π±, π0 andK± spectra in the forward fragmentation region (x>0.2,pT<1.5 GeV/c) as well as correlations between two charged particles. The data were recorded in an unseparated negative hadron beam at the CERN SPS using a large acceptance forward spectrometer. Our maasurements are compared in detail with several models which emphasise the role of the beam valence quarks in this production process. The connection to measurements at largepT is also investigated.