A partial-wave analysis has been performed of the diffractively produced low-mass ( K ̄ 0 π − π 0 ) system in the reaction K − p → ( K ̄ 0 π − π 0 ) p at 10 and 16 GeV/ c . Thus information complementary to that derived from the K − p → (K − π + π − )p) channel is obtained. The presence of the K ϱ decay mode, besides the dominant K ∗ (890)π mode, for the state J P = 1 + , is confirmed. It is also confirmed that for this 1 + state the assumption of factorization of the amplitude into “production” and “decay” does not hold: the two decay modes K ∗ π and K ϱ have different polarisation properties (helicity is approximately conserved in the t -channel for the first, in the s -channel for the second). The assumption that the ( K ̄ 0 π − π 0 ) system has isospin I = 1 2 has been tested and found to hold. From the cross sections for the various J P states, assuming I = 1 2 , the cross sections for the (K − π + π − ) system are predicted and compared with the experimental ones. In general, agreement is found.

We have performed a partial-wave analysis of the mainly diffractively produced low-mass (K ππ ) system in the reactions K − p → K − π + π − p and K − p → K 0 π − π 0 p at 10, 14 and 16 GeV /c . We find that the dominant 1 + S ( K ∗ π ) state has possibly a two-peak structure (around 1.27 and 1.37 GeV). In contrast the 1 + S(K ϱ ) state shows one narrow peak near thershold (around 1.27 GeV). These states are found to be of different origin. The results favour the interpretation of the 1 + S(K ϱ ) as a 1 + resonance below the (K ϱ ) threshold. The t ′ pp dependence is found to be different for the 1 + and 0 − states.

A comparison is made of the low-mass three-meson systems (πππ), (Kππ), (π K K ) and ( K K K ) diffractively produced in the reaction meson + proton → three mesons + proton. Several striking similarities and a few important differences are observed: (i) the reactions are consistent with the assumption that the three mesons decay entirely into a 0 − meson and a 0 + , 1 − or 2 + resonance; (ii) the three-meson mass spectra have a peak ≈ 250 MeV above the effective threshold M eff of the dominant decay mode and then fall off approximately as (mass) −3 ;(iii) the average spin 〈 J 〉 = 0.55 + 1.1 Q eff , where Q eff = M - M eff ; (iv) the average orbital angular momentum 〈 l 〉 increases according to 〈 l 〉 = 0.75 Q eff ; (v) the three-meson states are produced dominantly in unnatural spin-parity states and no evidence for their being resonant is found; (vi) the only natural spin-parity states found are the well-established 2 + resonances A 2 and K ∗ (1420); they have similar properties to the non-resonant unnatural parity states except for a dip at t = 0 in the dσ/d t distributions; (vii) both the unnatural and natural spin-parity states are produced mostly by an exchange of natural parity; (viii) there is evidence for two types of production mechanism with different polarization properties, one approximately conserving helicity in the t -channel and the other in the s -channel.

Results of a high-statistics study of elastic scattering and meson resonances produced by π−p interactions at 8 GeV/c are presented. Large statistics and small systematic errors permit examination of the complete kinematic region. Total differential cross sections are given for ρ0,−, f0, g0,−, Δ±, Δ0, and N* resonances. Spin-density matrix elements and Legendre-polynomial moments are given for ρ, f, and Δ resonances. The results for ρ0 and f0 resonances are compared with the predictions of a Regge-pole-exchange model. Properties of the above resonances are compared and discussed. In particular, we present evidence that the ρ0 and f0 production mechanisms are similar. The similarity of the g0 t distribution to that of the ρ0 and f0 suggests a common production mechanism for all three resonances.

Photon diffractive dissociation, $\gamma p \to Xp$, has been studied at HERA with the ZEUS detector using $ep$ interactions where the virtuality $Q^2$ of the exchanged photon is smaller than 0.02 GeV$^2$. The squared four-momentum $t$ exchanged at the proton vertex was determined in the range $0.073<|t|<0.40$ GeV$^2$ by measuring the scattered proton in the ZEUS Leading Proton Spectrometer. In the photon-proton centre-of-mass energy interval $176<W<225$ GeV and for masses of the dissociated photon system $4<M_X<32$ GeV, the $t$ distribution has an exponential shape, $dN/d|t| \propto \exp{(-b|t|)}$, with a slope parameter $b=6.8 \pm 0.9$~(stat.)~$ ^{+1.2}_{-1.1}$~(syst.)~GeV$^{-2}$.

The reaction γp→ρfast0pπ+π− has been studied with the linearly polarized 20-GeV monochromatic photon beam at the SLAC Hybrid Facility to test the prediction of s-channel helicity conservation in inelastic diffraction for t’<0.4 (GeV/c)2. In a sample of 1934 events from this reaction, the ρ0 decay-angular distributions and spin-density-matrix elements are consistent with s-channel helicity conservation, the π+π− mass shape displays the same skewing as seen in the reaction γp→pπ+π−, and the pπ+π− mass distribution compares well and scales according to the vector dominance model with that produced in π±p→πfast±pπ+π−.

We study the internal structure of a forward-going pπ + π − π + π − system, with invariant mass in the range 2.5-4 GeV, produced through diffractive dissociation of a beam proton at the ISR. The shape of the system, as seen in its center-of-mass, deviates strongly from isotropic phase space and possesses, rather, a longitudinal structure with a major axis along the incoming proton direction. The final state proton momentum is aligned in the direction of the incoming proton, an effect which becomes more pronounced with increasing diffractive mass.

This paper presents the first analysis of diffractive photon dissociation events in deep inelastic positron-proton scattering at HERA in which the proton in the final state is detected and its momentum measured. The events are selected by requiring a scattered proton in the ZEUS leading proton spectrometer (LPS) with $\xl>0.97$, where $\xl$ is the fraction of the incoming proton beam momentum carried by the scattered proton. The use of the LPS significantly reduces the contamination from events with diffractive dissociation of the proton into low mass states and allows a direct measurement of $t$, the square of the four-momentum exchanged at the proton vertex. The dependence of the cross section on $t$ is measured in the interval $0.073<|t|<0.4$~$\gevtwo$ and is found to be described by an exponential shape with the slope parameter $b=\tslopeerr$. The diffractive structure function $\ftwodfour$ is presented as a function of $\xpom \simeq 1-\xl$ and $\beta$, the momentum fraction of the struck quark with respect to $\xpom$, and averaged over the $t$ interval $0.073<|t|<\ftwodfourtmax$~$\gevtwo$ and the photon virtuality range $5<Q^2<20~\gevtwo$. In the kinematic range $4 \times 10^{-4} < \xpom < 0.03$ and $0.015<\beta<0.5$, the $\xpom$ dependence of $\ftwodfour$ is fitted with a form $\xpoma$, yielding $a= \ftwodfouraerr$. Upon integration over $t$, the structure function $\ftwod$ is determined in a kinematic range extending to higher $\xpom$ and lower $\beta$ compared to our previous analysis; the results are discussed within the framework of Regge theory.

The reaction K − n → K − π + π − n has been studied in the SLAC 82″ liquid deuterium bubble chamber with a beam momentum of 12 GeV/ c . Although the kinematic fit for this final state has only one constraint, nonetheless a reasonably pure sample has been obtained. The cross section for the reaction is 1.02 ± 0.10 mb. The process K − n → K ∗0 890 Δ − is observed with cross section 36 ± 9 μ b and t -slope of 10 ± 2 (GeV/ c ) −2 . A kaon diffraction dissociation sample has been obtained, although the Q-signal is not so strong as in experiments with proton targets. Neutron dissociation into n π + π − is also observed with similar properties to those of proton dissociation into p π + π − , but with a broader t -distribution.

The differential cross section has been measured at 30, 50, 80, 100, 120 and 140 GeV/ c for 0.002 < | t | < 0.04 ( GeV / c ) 2 . The results show that the π − p real part goes from negative to positive values below 80 GeV/ c . The slope parameter in the t -region measured is significantly higher than what has been found − t = 0.2 (GeV/ c ) 2 .