The production of eta mesons has been measured in the proton-proton interaction close to the reaction threshold using the COSY-11 internal facility at the cooler synchrotron COSY. Total cross sections were determined for eight different excess energies in the range from 0.5 MeV to 5.4 MeV. The energy dependence of the total cross section is well described by the available phase-space volume weighted by FSI factors for the proton-proton and proton-eta pairs.

Measurements of the analysing power for the p(pol)p --> ppeta reaction have been performed in the close-to-threshold energy region at beam momenta of p_{beam}=2.010 and 2.085 GeV/c, corresponding to excess energies of Q=10 and 36 MeV, respectively. The determined analysing power is essentially consistent with zero implying that the eta meson is produced predominantly in the s-wave at both excess energies. The angular dependence of the analysing power, combined with the hitherto determined isospin dependence of the total cross section for the eta meson production in nucleon-nucleon collisions, reveal a statistically significant indication that the excitation of the nucleon to the S_{11}(1535) resonance, the process which intermediates the production of the eta meson, is predominantly due to the exchange of the pi meson between the colliding nucleons.

The production of the Lambda and Sigma0 hyperons has been measured via the pp->pK+Lambda / Sigma0 reaction at the internal COSY-11 facility in the excess energy range between 14 and 60 MeV. The transition of the Lambda/Sigma0 cross section ratio from about 28 at Q<=13 MeV to the high energy level of about 2.5 is covered by the data showing a strong decrease of the ratio between 10 and 20 MeV excess energy. Effects from the final state interactions in the p-Sigma0 channel seem to be much smaller compared to the p-Lambda one. Estimates of the effective range parameters are given for the N-Lambda and the N-Sigma systems.

Total cross sections for the pp --> pp eta' reaction have been measured in the excess energy range from Q = 1.53 MeV to Q = 23.64 MeV. The experiment has been performed at the internal installation COSY-11 using a stochastically cooled proton beam of the COoler SYnchrotron COSY and a hydrogen cluster target. The determined energy dependence of the total cross section weakens the hypothesis of the S-wave repulsive interaction between the eta' meson and the proton. New data agree well with predictions based on the phase-space distribution modified by the proton-proton final-state-interaction (FSI) only.

Threshold measurements of the associated strangeness production reactions pp --> p K(+) Lambda and pp --> p K(+) Sigma(0) are presented. Although slight differences in the shapes of the excitation functions are observed, the most remarkable feature of the data is that at the same excess energy the total cross section for the Sigma(0) production appears to be about a factor of 28 smaller than the one for the Lambda particle. It is concluded that strong Sigma(0)-p final state interactions, and in particular the Sigma-N --> Lambda-p conversion reaction, are the likely cause of the depletion for the yield in the Sigma signal. This hypothesis is in line with other experimental evidence in the literature.

The experimental setup and detection technique of the COSY-11 installation, an internal experimental facility at the cooler synchrotron and storage ring COSY Jülich, are described. The detection system has been designed for meson production studies with full geometrical acceptance close to threshold. Preliminary results of first measurements are presented, emphasis is put on strangeness production in the reactions pp → ppK + K − and pp → pK + Λ .

The eta-prime meson production in the reaction pp-->pp eta-prime has been studied at excess energies of Q = 26.5, 32.5 and 46.6 MeV using the internal beam facility COSY-11 at the cooler synchrotron COSY. The total cross sections as well as one angular distribution for the highest Q-value are presented. The excitation function of the near threshold data can be described by a pure s-wave phase space distribution with the inclusion of the proton-proton final state interaction and Coulomb effects. The obtained angular distribution of the eta-prime mesons is also consistent with pure s-wave production.

The TOTEM experiment has measured the charged particle pseudorapidity density dN_{ch}/deta in pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV for 5.3<|eta|<6.4 in events with at least one charged particle with transverse momentum above 40 MeV/c in this pseudorapidity range. This extends the analogous measurement performed by the other LHC experiments to the previously unexplored forward eta region. The measurement refers to more than 99% of non-diffractive processes and to single and double diffractive processes with diffractive masses above ~3.4 GeV/c^2, corresponding to about 95% of the total inelastic cross-section. The dN_{ch}/deta has been found to decrease with |eta|, from 3.84 pm 0.01(stat) pm 0.37(syst) at |eta| = 5.375 to 2.38 pm 0.01(stat) pm 0.21(syst) at |eta| = 6.375. Several MC generators have been compared to data; none of them has been found to fully describe the measurement.

The cross section for inclusive multipion production in the pp->ppX reaction was measured at COSY-ANKE at four beam energies, 0.8, 1.1, 1.4, and 2.0 GeV, for low excitation energy in the final pp system, such that the diproton quasi-particle is in the 1S0 state. At the three higher energies the missing mass Mx spectra show a strong enhancement at low Mx, corresponding to an ABC effect that moves steadily to larger values as the energy is increased. Despite the missing-mass structure looking very different at 0.8 GeV, the variation with Mx and beam energy are consistent with two-pion production being mediated through the excitation of two Delta(1232) isobars, coupled to S-- and D-- states of the initial pp system.

The single-pion production reactions $pp\to d\pi^+$, $pp\to np\pi^+$ and $pp\to pp\pi^0$ were measured at a beam momentum of 0.95 GeV/c ($T_p \approx$ 400 MeV) using the short version of the COSY-TOF spectrometer. The central calorimeter provided particle identification, energy determination and neutron detection in addition to time-of-flight and angle measurements from other detector parts. Thus all pion production channels were recorded with 1-4 overconstraints. Main emphasis is put on the presentation and discussion of the $np\pi^+$ channel, since the results on the other channels have already been published previously. The total and differential cross sections obtained are compared to theoretical calculations. In contrast to the $pp\pi^0$ channel we find in the $np\pi^+$ channel a strong influence of the $\Delta$ excitation already at this energy close to threshold. In particular we find a $(3 cos^2\Theta + 1)$ dependence in the pion angular distribution, typical for a pure s-channel $\Delta$ excitation and identical to that observed in the $d\pi^+$ channel. Since the latter is understood by a s-channel resonance in the $^1D_2$ $pn$ partial wave, we discuss an analogous scenario for the $pn\pi^+$ channel.

The reaction pp->{pp}_s\gamma, where {pp}_s is a proton pair with an excitation energy E_{pp}<3 MeV, has been observed with the ANKE spectrometer at COSY-Juelich for proton beam energies of T_p=0.353, 0.500, and 0.550 GeV. This is equivalent to photodisintegration of a free 1S_0 diproton for photon energies E\gamma ~ T_p/2. The differential cross sections measured for c.m. angles 0 deg.<\theta_{pp}<20 deg. exhibit a steep increase with angle that is compatible with E1 and E2 multipole contributions. The ratio of the measured cross sections to those of np->d\gamma is on the 10^{-3}-10^{-2} level. The increase of the pp->{pp}_s\gamma cross section with T_p might reflect the influence of the Delta(1232) excitation.

In the energy region around 380 keV (lab.) and at detection angles near 45° (lab.) the cross section of proton-proton scattering exhibits a deep minimum, since the Coulomb amplitude and the nuclear amplitude almost cancel each other out, resulting in a pronounced deviation from pure Mott scattering. A new set of precise data in the-energy range between 300 and 407 keV was recorded using the accelerator of the IKP Münster by employing a thin gas jet target with an areal density smaller than 8 × 10 14 cm −2 . For the first time p-p scattering near the interference minimum was studied under single scattering conditions using a high quality ion beam (energy spread <40 eV). Since the energy smearing was two orders of magnitude lower than that of the former measurements, a more detailed evaluation of the data was feasible, resulting in differential cross sections near the minimum which are smaller than published before. The measured values cannot be explained by the interference of the Coulomb and the nuclear amplitude alone but suggest the need for vacuum polarization or other additional effects. The position of the minimum was determined to be (382.8 ± 0.1) keV.

The average charged multiplicity in proton-proton interactions has been studied at √ s = 62 GeV. A very good agreement with the average charged multiplicity measured in e + e − annihilation at different energies is obtained by redefining, in p-p, the correct energies available for particle production. This means that a p-p collision at √ s = 62 GeV does in fact correspond to a large range of effective hadronic energies available for particle production.

We report on a study of inclusive particle production in pp-interactions at 400 GeV/c. The data are based on 472 K reconstructed events recorded in the NA 27 experiment using the LEBC-EHS facility at CERN. The production cross sections are determined of pseudo scalar (π±,0, η andK±), scalar (f0(975)), vector (ρ±,0(770), ω(783), ϕ(1020),K*0(892), and\(\bar K^{ * 0} \)(892)), and tensorf0 mesons, of protons and antiprotons, and theΔ++,+,0(1232), and Λ(1520) baryon resonances in the forward hemisphere of the center of mass system, as well as longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions. The results are compared with predictions of the FRITIOF model and with other experimental data.

Results are given on the inclusive production of charged pions, kaons, and nucleons, in proton-proton collisions at c.m. energies from √ s = 23 to 63 GeV at large angles and for the transverse momentum range 0.1 < p T < 4.8 GeV/ c . The dependence of the production spectra on the collision energy √ s , the transverse momentum p T , and the longitudinal rapidity is discussed.

The properties of the diffractive peak observed in the mass spectra of systems recoiling against observed high-momentum protons emerging from pp collisions at the CERN ISR have been investigated. The cross sections in this peak have been found to have a steep t dependence which flattens out as | t | increases. The high mass side of the peak varies approximately as 1/ M 2 (where M is the missing mass of the recoiling system) and scales well in terms of the variable M 2 / s . The position of the maximum has been observed to move to lower values of M 2 / s as the kinematic boundary of this variable decreases with increasing s . The measured cross sections, integrated up to M 2 / s =0.05, rise by (15±5)% over the s range 549 to 1464 GeV 2 .

In this paper we present tables of absolute differential cross sections of elastic pp scattering together with the values of the slope parameter B and the real-part parameter α, where B= d d t In dσ d t α= Re A(0) Im A(0) and A (0) is the amplitude of elastic pp scattering at t = 0. The cross-section data have been obtained at the Serpukhov accelerator from 8 to 70 GeV in the | t |-range 0.0007 − 0.12 (GeV/ c ) 2 .

Measurements are reported of the difference ΔσL between proton-proton total cross sections for parallel and antiparallel spin states and of the parameter CLL for proton-proton elastic scattering near 90°, for thirteen energies between 300 and 800 MeV. The ΔσL results agree well with previous ANL ZGS and SIN data, but disagree with recent results from TRIUMF. Attempts to understand the cause of the discrepancy have been unsuccessful, but possible sources are discussed. The ΔσL and CLL results have been used with other experimental data to extract quantities which depend only on spin-singlet, coupled spin-triplet, and spin-triplet partial waves. Structure is found in these quantities, which appears to be associated with the resonantlike D21 and F33 partial waves. Additional similar structure is also found, which may be due either to the P03 partial wave or the (P23,F23) partial-wave pair.

Proton-proton elastic differential cross sections have been measured for incident laboratory momenta of 600-1800 MeVc and c.m. angles of 5°-90°. The data span, in a single experiment, the intermediate energy region from isotropic differential cross sections at lower energies to the development of a clear diffraction peak at higher energies. Parameters for phenomenological formulations derived from the experimental results are presented.

Excitation functions AN(pp,Θc.m.) of the analyzing power in pp→ elastic scattering have been measured with a polarized atomic hydrogen target for projectile momenta pp between 1000 and 3300 MeV/ c. The experiment was performed for scattering angles 30°≤Θc.m.≤90° using the recirculating beam of the proton storage ring COSY during acceleration. The resulting excitation functions and angular distributions of high internal consistency have significant impact on the recent phase shift solution SAID SP99, in particular, on the spin triplet phase shifts between 1000 and 1800 MeV, and demonstrate the limited predictive power of single-energy phase shift solutions at these energies.

The total cross section of the pp→ pp η reaction has been measured at incident proton energies of 1.265, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 GeV by detecting the two photons from the η decay in the PINOT spectrometer. The data are compared with other near-threshold measurements and with the predictions of existing theoretical calculations.

Inclusive K0K¯0, Λ0, and Λ¯0 cross sections have been determined using a 292-event/mb exposure of the hydrogen-filled 15-foot bubble chamber at Fermilab. From the invariant-mass distributions of V0π± pairs we find that σ(K*±(890))=4.4±1.4 mb, σ(Σ*±(1385))=0.54±0.40 mb, and σ(Σ¯*±(1385))=0.45±0.34 mb. It is estimated that 0.32 ± 0.11 of K0K¯0's, 0.21 ± 0.16 of Λ's, and 0.96 ± 0.75 of Λ¯'s originate from decays of K*(890) and Σ*(1385), respectively.

Differential cross sections for the exclusive reaction p⃗p→ppη observed via the η→π+π−π0 decay channel have been measured at Tbeam=2.15GeV, 2.50GeV, and 2.85GeV (excess energies 324MeV, 412MeV, and 554MeV). The influence of the N(1535)S11 resonance is clearly seen in the invariant mass and momentum dependent differential cross sections. The extracted resonance parameters are compatible with existing data. No significant evidence for further resonance contributions has been found. In addition, angular distributions of the ppη final state have been measured. The polar angle distribution of the η shows an anisotropy with respect to the beam axis for the lowest beam energy, which vanishes for the higher energies. The sign of this anisotropy is negative and expected to be sensitive to the dominant production mechanism. In contrast, the proton polar angle in the pp rest frame tends to be more strongly aligned along the beam axis with increasing beam energy. The analyzing power Ay is compatible with zero for all beam energies.

We report a measurement of the inclusive D/D̄ production cross section in 800 GeV/ c proton-proton interactions. The experiment used the high resolution bubble chamber LEBC exposed to an 800 GeV/ c proton beam at the Fermilab MPS. We obtain σ( D/ D ̄ )=59 −15 +22 μ b (statistical errors), having analysed 25% of the total data sample. Comparison with 400 GeV/ c pp dat a obtained with LEBC at CERN shows a D/D̄ cross section increase by a factor of 1.7 −0.5 +0.7 . This is in good agreement with fusion model calculations.

New results on the production of charged pions in p+p interactions are presented. The data come from a sample of 4.8 million inelastic events obtained with the NA49 detector at the CERN SPS at 158 GeV/c beam momentum. Pions are identified by energy loss measurement in a large TPC tracking system which covers a major fraction of the production phase space. Inclusive invariant cross sections are given on a grid of nearly 300 bins per charge over intervals from 0 to 2 GeV/c in transverse momentum and from 0 to 0.85 in Feynman x. The results are compared to existing data in overlapping energy ranges.