The differential cross section has been measured for the reaction γ +p→p+ π o at the Bonn 2.5 GeV electron synchrotron in the energy range from 0.4 to 2.2 GeV for a c.m. angle of 150 degrees. The protons were detected in a magnetic spectrometer system. The excitation curve shows a distinct resonance structure. The total corrections to the counting rate are about 3%. The contribution of the process γ +p→p+2 π was separated. The uncertainty of this separation leads to an error of about 4% in the cross section.

We report measurements of the differential cross section for photoproduction of π0 mesons from hydrogen, with the pion emerging near 0 deg, in the photon energy range 290 to 700 MeV. The results show no unusual behavior of the cross section in the forward direction. They are consistent with the angular distribution characteristic of a magnetic-dipole transition to a P32 state. The results agree reasonably well with theoretical predictions of Gourdin and Salin, but disagree with a prediction of DeTollis and Verganelakis. Least-squares fits in powers of cosθ have been made to the available angular distributions.

The process γ+p→π0+p has been studied by detecting recoil protons from a liquid hydrogen target which was bombarded by the bremsstrahlung beam of the California Institute of Technology electron synchrotron. The angle and momentum of the recoil protons were measured by a magnetic spectrometer-three scintillation counter coincidence system. The process has been studied between photon laboratory energies of 490 and 940 Mev and between pion center-of-mass angles of 31.5° and 147°. Protons which arose from meson pair production were significant at forward laboratory angles. A correction for this contamination is discussed. The results of these measurements show two interesting features. One is that the total cross section, which falls very rapidly above the 32−32 resonance energy near 320 Mev, reaches a minimum at about 600 Mev, and then increases to a broad maximum near 800 or 900 Mev. The other striking feature of the data is that the shape of the angular distribution seems to change rather suddenly near 900 Mev.

Recoil protons from the process γ+p→p+π0 have been detected by nuclear emulsions placed within a hydrogen-gas target and used to measure the differential cross section for production of neutral pions. In this manner protons of energies as low as 5 Mev can be detected at laboratory angles corresponding to emission of a pion at center-of-momentum (c.m.) angles as low as 26°. This experiment thus supplements that of Oakley and Walker which is in the same range of photon energies (240-480 Mev), but is restricted to pion c.m. angles greater than about 70° owing to higher minimum detectable proton energy. Common experimental points provide intercomparison of absolute values. Angular distributions are analyzed in the form dσdΩ=A+Bcosθ+Ccos2θ in the c.m. system. The combined Oakley-Walker and present data give the average value of the ratio AC as -1.60±0.10 in the energy range from 260 to 450 Mev. The coefficient B, which gives the front-back asymmetry, passes through zero below the resonance energy of 320 Mev and is positive at higher energies. These results are consistent with magnetic dipole absorption leading to a state of the pion-nucleon system of angular momentum 32, together with a finite amount of S-wave interference.

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The bremsstrahlung beam of the Cornell Bev electron synchrotron has been used to study the reaction γ+p→π0+p over the photon energy range 250 Mev to 1 Bev, and for center-of-mass pion angles between 20° and 70°. The recoil protons, of energies between 10 and 60 Mev, were identified and their energies determined using a range telescope of eight thin plastic scintillators enclosed in a vacuum chamber with the thin liquid hydrogen target. Correlated pulse-height information was obtained by photographing an oscilloscope display and was used to sort out the protons from mesons and electrons. Corrections were made for the background of photoprotons from the Mylar target cup, the energy loss of the protons in the liquid hydrogen, absorption and scattering in the counter telescope, and the variation of beam intensity profile with energy. Compared with previous experiments and extrapolations the results show a somewhat smaller forward differential cross section above 400 Mev. The angular distributions obtained from a least-squares fit to all existing data indicate a d32 assignment for the 760-Mev resonance level. Other implications of the data are also discussed.

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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).

New results are presented on the differential cross-section for the reaction α+p→π0+p, at energies between 600 and 1000 MeV, and c.m. pion angles Θ*π=40° and Θ*π=60°. The present data, together with that at Θ*π=40° already published (11), show an angle-independent position of the second resonance at about 750 MeV. Rather flat angular distributions in the forward c.m. hemisphere are also favoured by these data. On comparing the cross-sections obtained when detecting both the neutral pion and the recoil proton, and when detecting only the latter, estimates of the background of «ghost protons» are obtained, in agreement with the empirical curve proposed in ref. (11).