We have studied the polarization of Ξ− and Ω− hyperons produced by high energy neutral particle beams. An unpolarized neutral beam striking a target at ±1.8 mrad produced 1.4×107Ξ−'s with an average momentum of 395 GeV/c which were unpolarized, within a sensitivity limit of 0.007, and 2.2 × 105 Ω−'s with a polarization of +0.042±0.007 at an average momentum of 374 GeV/c. A polarized neutral beam striking a target at 0.0 mrad produced 7.1×105Ξ−'s which had a polarization of -0.118±0.004 at an average momentum of 393 GeV/c and 1.8 × 104 Ω−'s with a polarization of -0.069±0.023 at an average momentum of 394 GeV/c. The polarized neutral beam measurement is in good agreement with a previous measurement. The unpolarized neutral beam results are not understood in the context of the current models of hyperon polarization.
The polarization PΞ− of Ξ− hyperons produced by 800-GeV protons has been measured for xF from 0.3 to 0.7 and pT from 0.5 to 1.5 GeV/c. PΞ− has a pT dependence similar to that of the Λ but has a different xF behavior. Also, an energy dependence of PΞ− has been observed.
The polarization of Ξ¯ + hyperons produced by 800-GeV/c protons in the inclusive reaction p+Be→Ξ¯ ++X has been measured. The average polarization of the Ξ¯ +, at a mean xF=0.39 and pt=0.76 GeV/c, is -0.097±0.012±0.009. The magnetic moment of the Ξ¯ + is 0.657±0.028±0.020 nuclear magneton.
A sample of 24 700 Ω− hyperons was produced by a prolarized neutral beam in a spin-transfer reaction. The Ω− polarizations are found to be -0.054±0.019 and -0.149±0.055 at mean Ω− momenta of 322 and 398 GeV/c, respectively. The directions of these polarizations give an Ω− magnetic moment of -(1.94±0.17±0.14)μN
The polarization of 103 211 Ω− hyperons produced in 800 GeV proton-beryllium inclusive reactions has been measured. Between 0.3<xF<0.7 and 0.5<pt<1.3 GeV/c, the Ω− polarization is found to be consistent with zero, with a mean value of -0.01±0.01 at 〈xF〉=0.5 and 〈pt〉=0.95 GeV/c. This behavior is similar to that of Λ¯0, which also does not have any quarks in common with the incident proton, but is different from Ξ¯+, which is significantly polarized in the same kinematic region.
The analyzing power AN in inclusive π0 production has been measured with use of the new 185-GeV/c Fermilab polarized proton beam. We obtain the value AN=0.10±0.03 for π0's in the kinematic region 0.2<xF<0.8 and 0.3<pT<1.2 GeV/c. In certain models of particle production this suggests that the spin of the proton is carried by its valence quarks.
We present a measurement of the polarization observed for bottomonium states produced in p-Cu collisions at sqrt(s)=38.8 GeV. The angular distribution of the decay dimuons of the Upsilon(1S) state show no polarization at small xF and pT but significant positive transverse production polarization for either pT > 1.8 GeV/c or for xF > 0.35. The Upsilon(2S+3S) unresolved states show a large transverse production polarization at all values of xF and pT measured. These observations are compared with an NRQCD calculation that predicts a transverse polarization in bottomonium production arising from quark-antiquark fusion and gluon-gluon fusion diagrams.