A measurement of continuum dimuon production in proton-copper collisions at 800-GeV incident energy is presented. The dimuons observed in this experiment cover the mass range from 6.5 to 18 GeV near y=0 in the proton-nucleon center-of-momentum frame. Scaling forms of the cross section for the continuum are compared with the results of other experiments in the context of the parton model and quantum chromodynamics. The present limitations of such scaling comparisons are discussed.
Experimental results on the production of dimuons by 800-GeV protons incident on a copper target are presented. The results include measurements of both the continuum of dimuons and the dimuon decays of the three lowest-mass ϒ S states. A description of the apparatus, data acquisition, and analysis techniques is included. A comparison of the results with data taken at lower incident energies indicates a scaling behavior of the continuum dimuon yields.
We report the first observation of diffractively produced open charm in 800−GeV/c pp collisions of the type pp→pD*X. We measure cross sections of σdiff(D*+)=(0.185±0.044±0.054)μb and σdiff(D*−)=(0.174±0.034±0.029)μb. Our measurements are based on 4.3×109 events recorded by FNAL E690 in the fixed-target run of 1991. We compare our results with previous fixed-target charm experiments.
Measurements of the energy and t dependence of diffractive Jψ photoproduction are presented. A significant rise in the cross section over the energy range 60-300 GeV is observed. It is found that (30±4)% of the events are inelastic.
We have measured the cross section for production of ψ and ψ′ in p¯ and π− interactions with Be, Cu, and W targets in experiment E537 at Fermilab. The measurements were performed at 125 GeV/c using a forward dimuon spectrometer in a closed geometry configuration. The gluon structure functions of the p¯ and π− have been extracted from the measured dσdxF spectra of the produced ψ's. From the p¯W data we obtain, for p¯, xG(x)=(2.15±0.7)[1−x](6.83±0.5)[1+(5.85±0.95)x]. In the π− case, we obtain, from the W and the Be data separately, xG(x)=(1.49±0.03)[1−x](1.98±0.06) (for π−W), xG(x)=(1.10±0.10)[1−x](1.20±0.20) (for π−Be).
The production of the Jψ resonance in 125-GeV/c p¯ and φ− interactions with Be, Cu, and W targets has been measured. The cross section per nucleon for Jψ production is suppressed in W interactions relative to the lighter targets, especially at large values of Feynman x, which is opposite to the expectation from the various explanations of the European Muon Collaboration effect. Models incorporating modifications of the gluon structure functions in heavy targets show qualitative agreement with the data.
The inclusive ϱ ° production cross section has been measured in the reaction π − p → π + π − X at 205 GeV/ c . We find σ ( ϱ ° ) = 13.5 ± 3.4 mb, with most of the production occuring in the central region. Assuming σ ( ϱ + ) ≈ σ ( ϱ − ) ≈ σ ( ϱ ° ), it is concluded that approximately one-third of the pions at this energy come from ϱ -decay.
A study of 205-GeV/c π−p interactions has been made with a 48 800-picture exposure in the bare Fermilab 30-inch hydrogen bubble chamber. The average number of charged particles produced per inelastic interaction is 7.99±0.06. The elastic cross section is 3.18±0.13 mb and the total cross section is 24.19±0.44 mb. The inclusive cross sections for neutral-particle production are: σ(γ)=171.3±15.3 mb, σ(KS0)=3.64±0.61 mb (x<0.3), σ(Λ)=1.71±0.34 mb (x<0.3), and σ(Λ¯)=0.59±0.23 mb (x<0.1). The average number of π0's produced per inelastic collision is consistent with a linear rise with the number of charged particles, and about equal to the number of produced π− or π+. The average number of K0's, Λ's, and Λ¯'s is consistent with very little dependence on the number of charged particles. General characteristics of neutral-particle production are presented and compared with other experiments. For each topology the produced neutral energy is ∼13 of the incident energy.
The cross section for the reaction p¯N→μ+μ−X with muon pairs in the mass range 4<M<9 GeV/c2 and xF>0 was measured to be σ=0.104±0.005±0.008 nb/nucleon. The distributions dσdxF and M3dσdM were compared to the QCD-improved Drell-Yan model and to calculations including first-order QCD corrections, with use of deep-inelastic structure functions. Excellent agreement with the data was obtained if the calculations were multiplied by factors of 2.45 and 1.41, respectively.
We have studied muon pairs with an invariant mass between 4 and 9 GeV/c2 produced in p¯N and π−N interactions at an incident momentum of 125 GeV/c. The experiment was performed at Fermilab using a tungsten target and a special beam enriched to contain 18% antiprotons. We compare differential distributions as functions of the dimuon invariant mass, Feynman x, transverse momentum, and decay angles of the dimuon to the predictions of the Drell-Yan model including QCD corrections. Quark structure functions for the p¯ and π− are extracted. Comparisons of the antiproton data to the Drell-Yan model are significant because the cross sections depend principally on the valence-quark structure functions which are accurately determined by deep-inelastic scattering measurements. The measured absolute cross section (integrated over positive Feynman x and all transverse momenta) is 0.106±0.005±0.008 nb/nucleon for the p¯N interaction and 0.107±0.003±0.009 nb/nucleon for the π−N interaction, where the quoted errors are statistical and systematic, respectively. Normalization (K) factors that are required to bring the naive Drell-Yan and first-order QCD predictions into agreement with the measurements are extracted, and the uncertainties involved in such comparisons are examined.