We report a new measurement of the π−p→3π0n total cross section from threshold to pπ=0.75GeV/c. The cross section near the N(1535)12− resonance is only a few μb after subtracting the large η→3π0 background associated with π−p→ηn. A simple analysis of our data results in the estimated branching fraction B[S11→πN(1440)12+]=(8±2)%. This is the first such estimate obtained with a three-pion production reaction.

Reaction π−p→π0π0n has been measured with high statistics in the beam momentum range 270–750MeV∕c. The data were obtained using the Crystal Ball multiphoton spectrometer, which has 93% of 4π solid angle coverage. The dynamics of the π−p→π0π0n reaction and the dependence on the beam energy are displayed in total cross sections, Dalitz plots, invariant-mass spectra, and production angular distributions. Special attention is paid to the evaluation of the acceptance that is needed for the precision determination of the total cross section σt(π−p→π0π0n). The energy dependence of σt(π−p→π0π0n) shows a shoulder at the Roper resonance [i.e., the N(1440)12+], and there is also a maximum near the N(1520)32−. It illustrates the importance of these two resonances to the π0π0 production process. The Dalitz plots are highly nonuniform; they indicate that the π0π0n final state is dominantly produced via the π0Δ0(1232) intermediate state. The invariant-mass spectra differ much from the phase-space distributions. The production angular distributions are also different from the isotropic distribution, and their structure depends on the beam energy. For beam momenta above 550MeV∕c, the density distribution in the Dalitz plots strongly depends on the angle of the outgoing dipion system (or equivalently on the neutron angle). The role of the f0(600) meson (also known as the σ) in π0π0n production remains controversial.

The reaction gamma p -> p pi0 gamma' has been measured with the Crystal Ball / TAPS detectors using the energy-tagged photon beam at the electron accelerator facility MAMI-B. Energy and angular differential cross sections for the emitted photon gamma' and angular differential cross sections for the pi0 have been determined with high statistics in the energy range of the Delta+(1232) resonance. Cross sections and the ratio of the cross section to the non-radiative process gamma p -> p pi0 are compared to theoretical reaction models, having the anomalous magnetic moment kappa_Delta+ as free parameter. As the shape of the experimental distributions is not reproduced in detail by the model calculations, currently no extraction of kappa_Delta+ is feasible.

With an apparatus slightly improved with respect to a previous one we have studied multihadronic production at the Adone e + e − storage ring up to a maximum center of mass energy of 3 GeV.

We have measured the fivefold differential cross section d5σ/dΩπdΩγdEγ for the process π+p→π+pγ with incident pions of energy 299 MeV. The angular regions for the outgoing pions (55°≤θlabπ≤95°), and photons (θlabγ=241°±10°) in coplanar geometry are selected to maximize the sensitivity to the radiation from the magnetic dipole moment of the Δ++(1232) resonance. At low photon energies, the data agree with the soft-photon approximation to pion-proton bremsstrahlung. At forward pion angles the data agree with older data and with the latest theoretical calculations for 2.3μp≤μΔ≤3.3μp. However at more backward pion angles where no data existed, the predictions fail.

The polarization of the recoil proton in π+p and π−p elastic scattering using a liquid-hydrogen target has been measured for backward angles at 547 and 625 MeV/c. The scattered pion and recoil proton were detected in coincidence using the large-acceptance spectrometer to detect and analyze the momentum of the pions and the JANUS polarimeter to identify and measure the polarization of the protons. Results from this experiment agree with other measurements of the recoil polarization, with analyzing-power data previously taken by this group, and with predictions of partial-wave analyses.

The π−p charge-exchange analyzing power has been measured from 547 to 687 MeV/c in the center-of-mass angular range -0.9≤cosθ̃π≤0.9 using a transversely polarized target. The recoil neutron was detected in coincidence with a photon from π0 decay. The results are compared with the three recent partial-wave analyses (PWA’s); the VPI analysis is most consistent with our measured distributions except at 687 MeV/c where no PWA agrees with our data. The charge-exchange transversity cross sections are evaluated using the differential cross sections of Borcherding et al. These transversity cross sections are used in conjunction with earlier π±p data by our group to test the triangle inequalities which are a model-independent test of isospin invariance. Our data satisfy these inequalities everywhere; in contrast, Abaev et al. have reported a violation of more than 5 standard deviations at 685 MeV/c.

We present a measurement of the cross section for the reaction e + e − → e + e − π + π − π + π − at SPEAR. This channel is found to be large and dominated by the process γγ → ϱ 0 ϱ 0 → π + π − π + π − . The cross section, which is small just above the four-pion threshold, exhibits a large enhancement near the ϱ 0 ϱ 0 threshold.

The total cross sections for the three γp → Nππ reactions have been measured for photon energies from 400 to 800 MeV. The γ p → p π 0 π 0 and γ p → n π + π 0 cross sections have never been measured before while the γ p → p π + π − results are much improved compared to earlier data. These measurements were performed with the large acceptance hadronic detector DAPHNE, at the tagged photon beam facility of the MAMI microtron in Mainz.

Result of cross section measurements for the reaction π − p → π − π + n are presented. They cover a range of incident pion momenta between 295 and 450 MeV/ c . It is the first time that the cross section has been measured so close to threshold. The experiment was performed with Omicron, a large-solid-angle spectrometer, which enables a measurement of the full set of kinematic variables. In the region of overlap there is a good agreement with other experiments. The extracted value for the chiral-symmetry-breaking parameter ξ is seen to be largely extrapolition dependent but the measured value of -0.5±0.8 leaves Weinberg's prediction of ξ =0 the only remaining choice.

Cross sections for the photoproduction of neutral pions have been measured at the 1.1-GeV Frascati electron synchrotron for bombarding photon energies k between 400 and 800 MeV and for π0 c.m. angles of θπ*=90∘, 120∘, and 135∘. The main feature of the experiment is good resolution in incident photon energy. The results are in good agreement with the existing theories in the energy range of 450 to 550 MeV. The cross sections exhibit a smooth behavior as a function of energy for k=400−600 MeV. No immediate evidence is found of a contribution of the P11 resonance. An anomaly at the limit of statistical significance appears for k≃700−740 MeV, indicating a possible structure of the so-called second resonance. We attempt to interpret the observed anomaly as a reflection of the sharp opening of the η production channel (η cusp effect).

Results are presented of an untagged e + e − → e + e − + π + π − experiment performed at PEP with the DELCO detector. In the invariant-mass range 0.7 ⩽ W ππ < 2.0 GeV/ c 2 , the QED e + e − background is identified and eliminated, and both the π + π − predictions and the μ + μ − and K + K − background substractions are normalized to the measurement of the e e + e − events. The results agree with a simple model of superposition and interference of the f 0 (1270) resonance, produced with helicity 2, with a Born-term continuum. From a fit of the model to the data, the radiative width of the f 0 is determined to be Γ f 0 → γγ = 2.70 ± 0.21 keV.

We have observed exclusive production of K + K − and K S O K S O pairs and the excitation of the f′(1515) tensor meson in photon-photon collisions. Assuming the f′ to be production in a helicity 2 state, we determine Λ( f ′ → γγ) B( f ′ → K K ) = 0.11 ± 0.02 ± 0.04 keV . The non-strange quark of the f′ is found to be less than 3% (95% CL). For the θ(1640) we derive an upper limit for the product Λ(θ rarr; γγ K K ) < 0.03 keV (95% CL ) .

First measurements of the e + e − → π + π − K + K − cross section have been performed by the DM1 on DCI in the total energy range 1.4–2.18 GeV. π + π − K + K − production is dominated by K ∗ Kπ dynamics. The cross section is rather large around 1.9 GeV. Comparison with K 0 S inclusive production shows an isospin interference. Upper limits on φππ production are compatible with the OZI rule.

First measurements of the e + e − → K S 0 K ± π ∓ reaction in the 1.4–2.18 GeV energy range have been performed with the magnetic detector DM1 at the Orsay storage rings DCI. The cross section is rather large. The production is mainly K ∗0 K 0 which reveals an interference between isovector and isoscalar amplitudes. These results show again the existence of an isoscalar vector at 1.65 GeV shown to be a φ ′ meson.

Differential cross-section measurements for π − p → γ n, consisting of three angular distributions at 618, 676 and 718 MeV/ c , and the energy dependence at θ γ = 90° for seven incident pion momenta between 502 and 888 MeV/ c , are presented. Our data qualitatively support recent multipole analyses. Agreement with the Scheffler et al. results for the inverse reaction, γ n → π − p, using a ( π − -recoil p) coincidence technique is good excluding a large violation of time reversal invariance. The agreement with γ n → π − p data obtained using the R ( π − / π + ) ratio technique or a deuterium bubble chamber is only qualitative.

Differential cross sections for Compton scattering by the proton have been measured in the energy interval between 200 and 500 MeV at scattering angles of θ cms = 75° and θ cms = 90° using the CATS, the CATS/TRAJAN, and the COPP setups with the Glasgow Tagger at MAMI (Mainz). The data are compared with predictions from dispersion theory using photo-meson amplitudes from the recent VPI solution SM95. The experiment and the theoretical procedure are described in detail. It is found that the experiment and predictions are in agreement as far as the energy dependence of the differential cross sections in the Δ-range is concerned. However, there is evidence that a scaling down of the resonance part of the M 1+ 3 2 photo-meson amplitude by (2.8 ± 0.9)% is required in comparison with the VPI analysis. The deduced value of the M 1+ 3 2 - photoproduction amplitude at the resonance energy of 320 MeV is: |M 1+ 3 2 | = (39.6 ± 0.4) × 10 −3 m π + −1 .

The asymmetry of the cross section for π + photoproduction from a polarized butanol target has been measured at a c.m. angle 90° and photon energies between 300 and 900 MeV by a single-arm spectrometer detecting positive pions. Our results indicate that the asymmetry has clear positive peaks at photon energies 400 and 700 MeV with a deep valley at about 600 MeV. The general feature of the results is well reproduced by the phenomenological analyses made by Walker and ourselves; however, the best fit to the polarized target asymmetry data seems to give a somewhat different set of parameters from that given by Walker.

The differential cross sections of the proton Compton scattering around the second resonance have been measured at a c.m. angle of 90° for incident photon energies between 450 MeV and 950 MeV in steps of 50 MeV, and at an angle of 60° for energies between 600 MeV and 800 MeV. The results show that the peak of the 2nd resonance agrees with that of the pion photoproduction process. We also calculated the proton Compton scattering based on unitarity and fixed- t dispersion relations. The calculation describes well the data of the cross section and the recoil proton polarization.

The e + e − → K + K − cross section has been measured between 1400 and 2060 MeV. About 500 K + K − events were detected in the magnetic detector DM1 at the Orsay storage rings DCI. The charged kaon form factor is appreciably higher than predicted by only the ϱ, ω, ø tails, suggesting contributions from higher vector mesons.

The e + e − → K S 0 K L 0 cross section has been measured between 1400 and 2180 MeV. About 58 K S 0 K L 0 events were in the magnetic detector DM1 at the Orsay storage ring DCI. The charged and neutral kaon form factor behaviour suggests the existence of a new isoscalar vector meson at 1.65 GeV.

The reaction π+p→π+π+n was studied in the vicinity of the reaction threshold at ten incident pion beam momenta from 297 MeV/c to 480 MeV/c. From data angular distributions, invariant mass spectra and integrated cross-sections were deduced. The chiral symmetry breaking parameter as determined by this reaction equals to ξ=1.56±0.26±0.39, where the first error is experimental, while the latter reflects the uncertainty in the ansatz used in the extrapolation to the reaction threshold. A comparison with the other reaction channels of the reaction πp→ππN indicates that a single parameter (ξ) is not sufficient to describe low energy ππ interactions.

The reaction γ V p → p π + π − was studied in the W , Q 2 region 1.3–2.8 GeV, 0.3–1.4 GeV 2 using the streamer chamber at DESY. A detailed analysis of rho production via γ V p→ ϱ 0 p is presented. Near threshold rho production has peripheral and non-peripheral contributions of comparable magnitude. At higher energies ( W > 2 GeV) the peripheral component is dominant. The Q 2 dependence of σ ( γ V p→ ϱ 0 p) follows that of the rho propagator as predicted by VDM. The slope of d σ /d t at 〈 Q 2 〉 = 0.4 and 0.8 GeV 2 is within errors equal to its value at Q 2 = 0. The overall shape of the ϱ 0 is t dependent as in photoproduction, but is independent of Q 2 . The decay angular distribution shows that longitudinal rhos dominate in the threshold region. At higher energies transverse rhos are dominant. Rho production by transverse photons proceeds almost exclusively by natural parity exchange, σ T N ⩾ (0.83 ± 0.06) σ T for 2.2 < W < 2.8 GeV. The s -channel helicity-flip amplitudes are small compared to non-flip amplitudes. The ratio R = σ L / σ T was determined assuming s -channel helicity conservation. We find R = ξ 2 Q 2 / M ϱ 2 with ξ 2 ≈ 0.4 for 〈 W 〉 = 2.45 GeV. Interference between rho production amplitudes from longitudinal and transverse photons is observed. With increasing energy the phase between the two amplitudes decreases. The observed features of rho electroproduction are consistent with a dominantly diffractive production mechanism for W > 2 GeV.