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.

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.

Measurements of π0 photoproduction have been made at 235, 285, 335, and 435 MeV, using a beam of polarized x rays. Using a calculated value of polarization, an analysis is made which indicates a possible need for γ, ρ, π, or γ, ω, π coupling. The polarization calculations are checked by measurements made as a function of photon production angle at 335 MeV.

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 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.

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.

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).

The polarized target asymmetry in the reaction γ p → π 0 p has been measured at c.m. angles of 30°, 80°, 105° and 120° for incident photon energies below 1 GeV. Two decay photons from π 0 were detected in coincidence at 30°, and at the other angles recoil protons and single photons from π 0 were detected. The results are compared with recent phenomenological analyses.

A description is given of the experimental techniques and investigation results of the parameters Σ , T , P for the γ p→p π 0 reaction using linear polarized photons and a polarized proton target. The measurements have been made in the photon energy range 280–450 MeV at pion c.m. angles between 60° and 135°. The new experimental data are used in an energy-independent channel multipole analysis without the Watson theorem.

The polarized target asymmetry in the reaction γp→π°p has been measured at c.m. angles around 100° for photon energies between 0.4 and 1.0 GeV by detecting both the recoil proton and the π°. The result is compared with recent analyses.

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).

The polarization of the recoil proton in the photoproduction process γ+p→p+π0 has been measured with the beam of the Frascati electrosynchrotron at an angle of 90° in the c.m. system, in the energy interval (500÷900) MeV. A counter technique has been used, and the polarization of the proton was revealed by the left to right asymmetry in the elastic scattering of the protons in a carbon target. The experimental results are given in Table III and in Fig. 10. A definite polarization is found, always of the same sign and equal to −0.4±.14, −0.63±.23, −0.6±.25, −0.57±.12, −0.38±.09, −0.5±.17, −0.5±.22 at the γ-ray energies of 560, 610, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850 MeV respectively. The discussion of these experimental results, together with the data of angular dstributions, allows to conclude that they are in agreement with the hypothesis that the second resonance is a transition (E 1,d 3/2) and the third one is a transition (E 2,f 3/2).

The asymmetry ratioA = (σ⊥ -σ∥)/(σ⊥ +σ∥) has been measured by means of linearly polarized γ-rays for π0 and π+ photoproduction. For the reaction γ + p → n + π+, measurements were taken for θc.m. = 135° at γ-ray energies ranging from 390 to 909 MeV. For the reaction γ + p → p + π0, measurements were taken for θc.m. = 60° and 90° at γ-ray energies ranging from 426 to 918 Mev.

The recoil proton polarization of the reaction γ p → π 0 p was measured at a c.m. angle of 100° for incident photon energies between 451 and 1106 MeV, and at an angle of 130° for energies from 400 to 1142 MeV. One photon, decayed from a π 0 meson, and a recoil proton were detected in coincidence. Two kinds of polarization analyzer were employed. In the range of proton kinetic energy less than 420 MeV and higher than 346 MeV, carbon plates and liquid hydrogen were used for determining the polarization, respectively. The data given by the two polarimeter systems are in good agreement. Results are compared with recent phenomenological analyses. From the comparison between the present data and the polarized target data, the invariant amplitude A 3 can be estimated to be small.

Single pi0 photoproduction has been studied with the CB-ELSA experiment at Bonn using tagged photon energies between 0.3 and 3.0 GeV. The experimental setup covers a very large solid angle of about 98% of 4 pi. Differential cross sections (d sigma)/(d Omega) have been measured. Complicated structures in the angular distributions indicate a variety of different resonances being produced in the s channel intermediate state gamma p --> N* (Delta*) --> p pi0. A combined analysis including the data presented in this letter along with other data sets reveals contributions from known resonances and evidence for a new resonance N(2070)D15.

The differential cross section for photoproduction of π° on hydrogen has been measured in a photon energy range of 560-690 MeV and for production angles in the interval 90°-105° in the centre of mass system. The experiment detects the recoil proton and a π°-decay photon in coincidence, using optical spark chambers and a lead glass Cerenkov counter. Presented cross sections, based on 35 000 events recorded on film, are in good agreement with recent phase shift analysis.