Total and differential cross sections for exclusive production of proton-antiproton pairs in photon-photon collisions have been measured using the JADE detector at PETRA. The total cross section in the CM angular |cos θ ∗ | < 0.6 reaches a maximum value of 3.8 nb for a γγ invariant mass of W γγ = 2.25 GeV, and decreases rapidly for higher values of W γγ . In the range 2.0 GeV < W γγ < 2.6 GeV the angular distribution is not isotopic. The nucleons are preferentially emitted at large angles to the collision axis.
Results are presented on the exclusive production of four-prong final states in photon-photon collisions from the TPC/Two-Gamma detector at the SLAC e+e− storage ring PEP. Measurement of dE/dx and momentum in the time-projection chamber (TPC) provides identification of the final states 2π+2π−, K+K−π+π−, and 2K+2K−. For two quasireal incident photons, both the 2π+2π− and K+K−π+π− cross sections show a steep rise from threshold to a peak value, followed by a decrease at higher mass. Cross sections for the production of the final states ρ0ρ0, ρ0π+π−, and φπ+π− are presented, together with upper limits for φρ0, φφ, and K*0K¯ *0. The ρ0ρ0 contribution dominates the four-pion cross section at low masses, but falls to nearly zero above 2 GeV. Such behavior is inconsistent with expectations from vector dominance but can be accommodated by four-quark resonance models or by t-channel factorization. Angular distributions for the part of the data dominated by ρ0ρ0 final states are consistent with the production of JP=2+ or 0+ resonances but also with isotropic (nonresonant) production. When one of the virtual photons has mass (mγ2=-Q2≠0), the four-pion cross section is still dominated by ρ0ρ0 at low final-state masses Wγγ and by 2π+2π− at higher mass. Further, the dependence of the cross section on Q2 becomes increasingly flat as Wγγ increases.
We report a measurement of the differential cross section of $\pi^0$ pair production in single-tag two-photon collisions, $\gamma^* \gamma \to \pi^0 \pi^0$, in $e^+ e^-$ scattering. The cross section is measured for $Q^2$ up to 30 GeV$^2$, where $Q^2$ is the negative of the invariant mass squared of the tagged photon, in the kinematic range 0.5 GeV < W < 2.1 GeV and $|\cos \theta^*|$ < 1.0 for the total energy and pion scattering angle, respectively, in the $\gamma^* \gamma$ center-of-mass system. The results are based on a data sample of 759 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider. The transition form factor of the $f_0(980)$ and that of the $f_2(1270)$ with the helicity-0, -1, and -2 components separately are measured for the first time and are compared with theoretical calculations.
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