In a single-arm spectrometer experiment, high-precision measurements of dσdt for π−p, K−p, and p¯p elastic scattering have been made at 8 and 16 GeV/c. The π−p data show rich structure at 8 GeV/c, indicative of strong non-Pomeron contributions, while the 16-GeV/c data are much smoother. For −t≳1 (GeV/c)2 there is a strong s dependence while there is very little for −t<1 (GeV/c)2. For p¯p scattering the forward region is smoothly diffractive for −t<0.4 (GeV/c)2 and shows antishrinkage. The exponential slope parameter b is measured to be 12.36 ± 0.04 (GeV/c)−2 at 8 GeV/c and 11.40 ± 0.04 (GeV/c)−2 at 16 GeV/c. The structure near −t=0.6 (GeV/c)2 seen at lower energies is still obvious at 16 GeV/c. The K−p data show some structure at 8 GeV/c, but can be represented adequately by a quadratic exponential form. At 16 GeV/c the K−p angular distribution shows antishrinkage and lies above the 8-GeV/c cross section for 0.11<−t<0.8 (GeV/c)2.

Differential cross sections have been measured for nucleon-isobar production and elastic scattering in p−p interactions from 6.2 to 29.7 GeVc in the laboratory angle range 8<θsc<265 mrad. N*' s at 1236, 1410, 1500, 1690, and 2190 MeV were observed. Computer fits to the mass spectra under varying assumptions of resonance and background shapes show that conclusions on t and s dependence are only slightly affected despite typical variations in absolute normalization of ± 35%. Logarithmic t slopes in the small- |t| range are ∼15 (GeVc)−2 for the N*(1410), ∼5 (GeVc)−2 for the N*'s at 1500, 1690, and 2190 MeV, and ∼9 (GeVc)−2 for elastic scattering. Also for the small- |t| data, cross sections for N*'s at 1410, 1500, 1690, and 2190 MeV and for elastic scattering vary only slightly with Pinc consistent with the dominance of Pomeranchuk exchange and with diffraction dissociation. A fit of N*(1690) total cross sections to the form σ∝P−n gives n=0.34±0.06, while for elastic scattering n=0.20±0.05. For the N*(1690) the effective Regge trajectory has the slope αeff′(0)=0.38±0.17. When compared with N* production in π−, K−, and p¯ beams these data also agree with approximate factorization of the Pomeranchuk trajectory. N*(1236) cross sections are consistent with other measurements at similar momenta. For −t>1 (GeVc)−2, elastic scattering cross sections decrease approximately as Pinc−2, and they and N*(1500)− and N*(1690)− production cross sections have t slopes consistent with 1.6 (GeVc)−2.

Twenty-nine proton-proton differential elastic cross sections for lab momenta p0 from 11 to 31.8 BeV/c, at four-momentum transfers squared, −t, from 2.3 to 24.4 (BeV/c)2, have been measured at the Brookhaven alternating gradient synchrotron. The circulating proton beam impinged upon a thin CH2 internal target. Both scattered protons from p−p elastic events were detected by scintillation-counter telescopes which were placed downstream from deflection magnets set at the appropriate angles to the incident beam. The angular correlation of the protons, their momenta, and the coplanarity of the events were determined by the detection system. The results show that at high momentum transfers the differential cross section, dσdt, depends strongly upon the energy; for −t=10 (BeV/c)2, the value of dσdt at p0=30 BeV/c is smaller by a factor∼1000 than at p0=10 BeV/c. At all energies, dσdt falls rapidly with increasing |t| for scattering angles up to about 65° (c.m.), while in the range from 65 to 90° the cross section falls only by a factor of about 2. The smallest cross section measured was 9×10−37 cm2 sr−1 (c.m.), at p0=31.8 BeV/c and −t=20.4 (BeV/c)2; this is about 3×10−12 of the zero-degree cross section at the same energy.

The total cross sections σT of p, p¯, π±, and K± on hydrogen and deuterium have been measured between 6 and 22 GeVc at intervals of 2GeVc to an accuracy greater than previously reported. The method utilized was a conventional good-geometry transmission experiment with scintillation counters subtending various solid angles at targets of liquid H2 and D2. With the increase in statistical accuracy of the data, it was found that a previously adopted procedure of linearly extrapolating to zero solid angle the partial cross sections measured at finite solid angles was not a sufficiently accurate procedure from which to deduce σT. The particle-neutron cross sections are derived by applying the Glauber screening correction to the difference between the particle-deuteron and particle-proton cross sections. The cross sections σT(π+d) and σT(π−d) are equal at all measured momenta, which confirms the validity of charge symmetry up to 20GeVc. Results are presented showing the variation of cross sections with momentum; evidence is presented for a small but significant decrease in σT(pp) [and σT(pn)] in the momentum region above 12GeVc.

The ratio of π+p to pp elastic scattering is found to be smoothly varying over the range −t=0.03 to 0.4 GeV2. It is well fitted by a single exponential, indicating the forward behavior must be quite similar for the two reactions.

The differential cross sections for the elastic scattering of π+, π−, K+, K−, p, and p¯ on protons have been measured in the t interval -0.04 to -0.75 GeV2 at five momenta: 50, 70, 100, 140, and 175 GeV/c. The t distributions have been parametrized by the quadratic exponential form dσdt=Aexp(B|t|+C|t|2) and the energy dependence has been described in terms of a single-pole Regge model. The pp and K+p diffraction peaks are found to shrink with α′∼0.20 and ∼0.15 GeV−2, respectively. The p¯p diffraction peak is antishrinking while π±p and K−p are relatively energy-independent. Total elastic cross sections are calculated by integrating the differential cross sections. The rapid decline in σel observed at low energies has stopped and all six reactions approach relatively constant values of σel. The ratio of σelσtot approaches a constant value for all six reactions by 100 GeV, consistent with the predictions of the geometric-scaling hypothesis. This ratio is ∼0.18 for pp and p¯p, and ∼0.12-0.14 for π±p and K±p. A crossover is observed between K+p and K−p scattering at |t|∼0.19 GeV2, and between pp and p¯p at |t|∼0.11 GeV2. Inversion of the cross sections into impact-parameter space shows that protons are quite transparent to mesons even in head-on collisions. The probability for a meson to pass through a proton head-on without interaction inelastically is ∼20% while it is only ∼6% for an incident proton or antiproton. Finally, the results are compared with various quark-model predictions.