An experiment to measure the electromagnetic form factor of the negative π meson has been carried out at Fermilab by elastically scattering 100-GeV/c pions from the atomic electrons in a liquid-hydrogen target. We find that the elastic differential scattering cross section is characterized by a root-mean-square pion charge radius of 0.56±0.04 fm. This paper described our experimental design, measurement resolutions, event triggering logic, event reconstruction, experimental corrections, and form-factor results.
We have measured the electromagnetic form factor of the charged pion by direct scattering of 100-GeV/c π− from stationary electrons in a liquid-hydrogen target at Fermilab. The deviations from the pointlike pion-scattering cross section may be characterized by a root-mean-square charge radius for the pion of 〈rπ2〉12=0.56±0.04 F.
The Sigma^- mean squared charge radius has been measured in the space-like Q^2 range 0.035-0.105 GeV^2/c^2 by elastic scattering of a Sigma^- beam off atomic electrons. The measurement was performed with the SELEX (E781) spectrometer using the Fermilab hyperon beam at a mean energy of 610 GeV/c. We obtain <r^2> = (0.61 +/- 0.12 (stat.) +/- 0.09 (syst.)) fm^2. The proton and pi^- charge radii were measured as well and are consistent with results of other experiments. Our result agrees with the recently measured strong interaction radius of the Sigma^-.