Differential cross sections have been measured at Fermilab with a focusing spectrometer for π±p, K±p, and p±p elastic scattering at 50-, 70-, 100-, 140-, and 175-GeV/c incident momentum over the |t| range 0.03 to 0.8 GeV2. The results are smooth in t and are parametrized by quadratic exponential fits.
Elastic scattering of hadrons on protons has been measured at momenta of 50, 100, and 200 GeV/c. The meson-proton scattering is found to be independent of momentum and meson type for −t>0.8 (GeV/c)2. The momentum dependence of the pp dip at −t=1.4 (GeV/c)2 was investigated. Slope parameters are given.
The differential cross sections for the elastic scattering of π+, π−, K+, K−, p, and p¯ on protons have been measured in the t interval -0.04 to -0.75 GeV2 at five momenta: 50, 70, 100, 140, and 175 GeV/c. The t distributions have been parametrized by the quadratic exponential form dσdt=Aexp(B|t|+C|t|2) and the energy dependence has been described in terms of a single-pole Regge model. The pp and K+p diffraction peaks are found to shrink with α′∼0.20 and ∼0.15 GeV−2, respectively. The p¯p diffraction peak is antishrinking while π±p and K−p are relatively energy-independent. Total elastic cross sections are calculated by integrating the differential cross sections. The rapid decline in σel observed at low energies has stopped and all six reactions approach relatively constant values of σel. The ratio of σelσtot approaches a constant value for all six reactions by 100 GeV, consistent with the predictions of the geometric-scaling hypothesis. This ratio is ∼0.18 for pp and p¯p, and ∼0.12-0.14 for π±p and K±p. A crossover is observed between K+p and K−p scattering at |t|∼0.19 GeV2, and between pp and p¯p at |t|∼0.11 GeV2. Inversion of the cross sections into impact-parameter space shows that protons are quite transparent to mesons even in head-on collisions. The probability for a meson to pass through a proton head-on without interaction inelastically is ∼20% while it is only ∼6% for an incident proton or antiproton. Finally, the results are compared with various quark-model predictions.
The results presented in this paper were obtained from a 105 000 frame exposure of the FNAL Hybrid Proportional Wire Chamber-30 inch Bubble Chamber System, in a tagged beam of 147 GeV/ c negative particles. Elastic, total and topological cross sections were obtained for both π − p and K − p interactions. Comparisons with other data, taken with various beam particles over large momentum intervals, show good agreement with KNO scaling, and similarity in the scaling behavior of σ n for the different beam particles.
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