We have used the Fermilab 30-in. bubble-chamber-hybrid spectrometer to study neutral-strange-particle production in the interactions of 200-GeV/c protons and π+ and K+ mesons with nuclei of gold, silver, and magnesium. Average multiplicities and inclusive cross sections for K0 and Λ are measured, and a power law is found to give a good description of their A dependence. The exponent characterizing the A dependence is consistent with being the same for K0 and Λ production, and also the same for proton and π+ beams. Average K0 and Λ multiplicities, as well as their ratio, have been measured as functions of the numbers of projectile collisions νp and secondary collisions νs in the nucleus, and indicate that rescattering contributes significantly to enhancement of Λ production but not to K0 production. The properties of events with multiple K0's or Λ's also corroborate this conclusion. K0 rapidities are in the central region and decrease gently with increasing νp, while Λ rapidities are in the target-fragmentation region and are independent of νp. K0 and Λ multiplicities increase with the rapidity loss of the projectile, but their rapidities do not.
The hadronic production of charmed states was studied in a two-arm spectrometer using a 205-GeV/c negative-pion beam incident upon a beryllium target. One arm, filled with dense absorber, triggered the detectors upon the passage of a muon with a moderate transverse momentum and a total momentum of at least 4 GeV/c. The other arm was an open-geometry magnetic spectrometer which had both neutral- and charged-particle identification capabilities. The apparatus, the data, and an invariant-mass-plot search for evidence of charmed-meson production through several charged-particle decay modes are described. The Kπ, Kππ, and Kπππ mass plots fail to reveal significant D-meson signals. Based upon the Kπ mass plots, the 95%-confidence upper limit on the DD¯ production cross section is found to be less than 51 μb per nucleon for the production models tested. A search for evidence of charged-D* production yields 30±16 combinations above background in association with the expected trigger muon charge. Interpreted as a D* signal, this excess corresponds to a model-dependent inclusive DD¯ production cross section of 34±18−9+14 μb per nucleon. Model-dependent upper limits on the ratio of the F to D cross sections are also presented.
Surprisingly large polarizations in hyperon production by unpolarized protons have been known for a long time. The spin dynamics of the production process can be further investigated with polarized beams. Recently, a negative asymmetry AN was found in inclusive Λ0 production with a 200GeV/c transversely polarized proton beam. The depolarization DNN in p↑+p→Λ0+X has been measured with the same beam over a wide xF range and at moderate pT. DNN reaches positive values of about 30% at high xF and pT∼1.0GeV/c. This result shows a sizable spin transfer from the incident polarized proton to the outgoing Λ0.
The considerable polarization of hyperons produced at high xF has been known for a long time and has been interpreted with various theoretical models in terms of the constituents' spin. Recently, the analyzing power in inclusive Λ0 hyperon production has also been measured using the 200GeV/c Fermilab polarized proton beam. The covered kinematic range is 0.2≤xF≤1.0 and 0.1≤pT≤1.5GeV/c. The data indicate a negative asymmetry at large xF and moderate pT. These results can further test the current ideas on the underlying mechanisms for hyperon polarization.
The inclusive and semi-inclusive cross sections for K*±(890) and Σ±(1385) resonances are determined in p¯p interactions at 14.75 GeV/c. They account for a large fraction of the KS0 and Λ0 produced. The K*-resonance production also affects the low-pT2 distribution of inclusive KS0. The x distributions of the resonance production are studied in terms of a simple quark-recombination model.
We present data from Fermilab experiment E781 (SELEX) on the hadroproduction asymmetry for anti-Lambda_c compared to Lambda_c+ as a function of xF and pt2 distributions for Lambda_c+. These data were measured in the same apparatus using incident pi-, sigma- beams at 600 GeV/c and proton beam at 540 GeV/c. The asymmetry is studied as a function of xF. In the forward hemisphere with xF >= 0.2 both baryon beams exhibit very strong preference for producing charm baryons rather than charm antibaryons, while the pion beam asymmetry is much smaller. In this energy regime the results show that beam fragments play a major role in the kinematics of Lambda_c formation, as suggested by the leading quark picture.
The production of $D_s^-$ relative to $D_s^+$ as a function of $x_F $ with 600 GeV/c $\Sigma^-$ beam is measured in the interval $0.15 < x_F < 0.7$ by the SELEX (E781) experiment at Fermilab. The integrated charge asymmetries with 600 GeV/c $\Sigma^-$ beam ($0.53\pm0.06$) and $\pi^-$ beam ($0.06\pm0.11$) are also compared. The results show the $\Sigma^-$ beam fragments play a role in the production of $D_s^-$, as suggested by the leading quark model.
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 yields and average transverse momenta of pions, kaons, and antiprotons produced at the Fermilab p¯p collider at s=300, 540, 1000, and 1800 GeV are presented and compared with data from the energies reached at the CERN collider. We also present data on the dependence of average transverse momentum 〈pt〉 and particle ratios as a function of charged particle density dNcdη; data for particle densities as high as six times the average value, corresponding to a Bjorken energy density 6 GeV/fm3, are reported. These data are relevant to the search for quark-gluon phase of QCD.
We have measured cross sections for forward neutron production from a variety of targets using proton beams from the Fermilab Main Injector. Measurements were performed for proton beam momenta of 58 GeV/c, 84 GeV/c, and 120 GeV/c. The cross section dependence on the atomic weight (A) of the targets was found to vary as $A^(alpha)$ where $\alpha$ is $0.46\pm0.06$ for a beam momentum of 58 GeV/c and 0.54$\pm$0.05 for 120 GeV/c. The cross sections show reasonable agreement with FLUKA and DPMJET Monte Carlos. Comparisons have also been made with the LAQGSM Monte Carlo.
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