Precise measurements of deuteron vector and tensor analyzing powers Ayd, Axx, Ayy, and Axz in d−p elastic scattering were performed via 1H(d→,d)p and 1H(d→,p)d reactions at three incoming deuteron energies of Edlab=140, 200, and 270 MeV. A wide range of center-of-mass angles from ≈10° to 180° was covered. The cross section was measured at 140 and 270 MeV at the same angles. These high precision data were compared with theoretical predictions based on exact solutions of three-nucleon Faddeev equations and modern nucleon-nucleon potentials combined with three-nucleon forces. Three-body interactions representing a wide range of present day models have been used: the Tucson-Melbourne 2π-exchange model, a modification thereof closer to chiral symmetry, the Urbana IX model, and a phenomenological spin-orbit ansatz. Large three-nucleon force effects are predicted, especially at the two higher energies. However, only some of them, predominantly dσ/dΩ and Ayd, are supported by the present data. For tensor analyzing powers the predicted effects are in drastic conflict to the data, indicating defects of the present day three-nucleon force models.

The angular distributions of the cross section, the proton analyzing power, and all proton polarization transfer coefficients of p→d elastic scattering were measured at 250 MeV. The range of center-of-mass angles was 10°–165° for the cross section and the analyzing power, and about 10°–95° for the polarization transfer coefficients. These are the first measurements of a complete set of proton polarization observables for p→d elastic scattering at intermediate energies. The present data are compared with theoretical predictions based on exact solutions of the three-nucleon Faddeev equations and modern realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials combined with three-nucleon forces (3NF), namely, the Tucson-Melbourne (TM) 2π-exchange model, a modification thereof (TM′) closer to chiral symmetry, and the Urbana IX model. Large effects of the three-nucleon forces are predicted. The inclusion of the three-nucleon forces gives a good description of the cross section at angles below the minimum. However, appreciable discrepancies between the data and predictions remain at backward angles. For the spin observables the predictions of the TM 3NF model deviate strongly from the other two 3NF models, which are close together, except for Kyy′. In the case of the analyzing power all 3NF models fail to describe the data at the upper half of the angular range. In the restricted measured angular range the polarization transfer coefficients are fairly well described by the TM′ and Urbana IX 3NF models, whereas the TM 3NF model mostly fails. The transfer coefficient Kyy′ is best described by the Urbana IX but the theoretical description is still insufficient to reproduce the experimental data. These results call for a better understanding of the spin structure of the three-nucleon force and very likely for a full relativistic treatment of the three-nucleon continuum.

The STAR Collaboration reports on the photoproduction of $\pi^+\pi^-$ pairs in gold-gold collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV/nucleon-pair. These pion pairs are produced when a nearly-real photon emitted by one ion scatters from the other ion. We fit the $\pi^+\pi^-$ invariant mass spectrum with a combination of $\rho$ and $\omega$ resonances and a direct $\pi^+\pi^-$ continuum. This is the first observation of the $\omega$ in ultra-peripheral collisions, and the first measurement of $\rho-\omega$ interference at energies where photoproduction is dominated by Pomeron exchange. The $\omega$ amplitude is consistent with the measured $\gamma p\rightarrow \omega p$ cross section, a classical Glauber calculation and the $\omega\rightarrow\pi^+\pi^-$ branching ratio. The $\omega$ phase angle is similar to that observed at much lower energies, showing that the $\rho-\omega$ phase difference does not depend significantly on photon energy. The $\rho^0$ differential cross section $d\sigma/dt$ exhibits a clear diffraction pattern, compatible with scattering from a gold nucleus, with 2 minima visible. The positions of the diffractive minima agree better with the predictions of a quantum Glauber calculation that does not include nuclear shadowing than with a calculation that does include shadowing.

The differential cross sections and vector analyzing powers for nd elastic scattering at En=248 MeV were measured for 10°–180° in the center-of-mass (c.m.) system. To cover the wide angular range, the experiments were performed separately by using two different setups for forward and backward angles. The data are compared with theoretical results based on Faddeev calculations with realistic nucleon-nucleon (NN) forces such as AV18, CD Bonn, and Nijmegen I and II, and their combinations with the three-nucleon forces (3NFs), such as Tucson-Melbourne 99 (TM99), Urbana IX, and the coupled-channel potential with Δ-isobar excitation. Large discrepancies are found between the experimental cross sections and theory with only 2N forces for θc.m.>90°. The inclusion of 3NFs brings the theoretical cross sections closer to the data but only partially explains this discrepancy. For the analyzing power, no significant improvement is found when 3NFs are included. Relativistic corrections are shown to be small for both the cross sections and the analyzing powers at this energy. For the cross sections, these effects are mostly seen in the very backward angles. Compared with the pd cross section data, quite significant differences are observed at all scattering angles that cannot be explained only by the Coulomb interaction, which is usually significant at small angles.

We have carried out a systematic study of the coherent dissociation of pions into 3 pions using nuclear targets. The experiment was performed at Fermilab using a high resolution forward spectrometer. Data were taken with carbon, copper and lead targets at an incident momentum of 202.5 GeV/c. Results are presented on momentum transfers, 3-pion masses, and on the nuclearA-dependence of the production cross section.

A search for charm production in the coherent diffractive dissociation reaction pSi→XSi was carried out for the modes D 0 → K − π + , D 0 → K − π + π + π − , and D + → K − π + π + . No charm signals were observed, and the 90% confidence level upper limit for coherent charm pair production was determined to be 26 μ b per silicon nucleus. The results are interpreted as an upper limit of 0.2% on the amount of intrinsic charm in the proton.

An analysis of theA-dependence of the target-diffractive cross-section is presented. Data on thet-dependence of the cross section are fitted in the usual exponential form. The mean multiplicity of negative particles produced diffractively is found not to be sensitive to the nuclear mass. TheA-dependence of the emitted proton multiplicity and the angular distributions of the produced charged particles suggest re-scattering of the emitted particles on other nucleons of the nucleus. All these facts are compared with results obtained by Monte-Carlo simulation according to a two-component Dual Parton Model.

The polarization parameter in pn elastic scattering has been measured at 24 GeV/ c over the range of four-momentum transfer squared 0.1 < | t | < 1.25 (GeV/ c ) 2 , and found to be negative except for a zero at | t | = 0.65 (GeV/ c ) 2 .

The polarization for the\(\bar pp\) elastic scattering was measured as a function of the centre-of-mass angle of scattering between 17° and 90° at the average incident momentum of 0.7 GeV/c by using doublescattering events in a bubble chamber. The average value of the polarization was found to be 0.23 ± 0.05. The angular dependence of the polarization obtained in this experiment was interpreted by the strong absorptive potential model for\(\bar {\mathcal{N}}{\mathcal{N}}\) interactions recently proposed.

The vector analyzing power has been measured for π+d elastic scattering at 0.74 GeV/c in the angular range of thetac.m.=40?(de–105°, using a polarized deuteron target in a large aperture spectrometer. A comparison with calculations based on the Glauber model was made.