We have measured the inclusive production of J ψ in 16 and 22 GeV π − copper collisions in a wide aperture magnetic spectrometer. The cross section per Cu nucleus for x > 0 corrected for branching ratio is 64 ± 38 nb at 16 GeV and 196 ± 38 nb at 22 GeV. As threshold is approached, the mean values of the Feynman x distribution increase and the cross section for J ψ production drops steeply. This can be understood in terms of the quark-fusion model where the antiquark content of the pion makes an increasingly significant contribution as M 2 s increases.
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