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 measurements of the two-photon processes e+e−→e+e−π+π− and e+e−→e+e−K+K−, at an e+e− center-of-mass energy of 29 GeV. In the π+π− data a high-statistics analysis of the f(1270) results in a γγ width Γ(γγ→f)=3.2±0.4 keV. The π+π− continuum below the f mass is well described by a QED Born approximation, whereas above the f mass it is consistent with a QCD-model calculation if a large contribution from the f is assumed. For the K+K− data we find agreement of the high-mass continuum with the QCD prediction; limits on f′(1520) and θ(1720) formation are presented.

We present differential cross-sections for the electro-production of single charged pions from deuterium for a virtual photon mass squared −1.0 GeV2 and for pion nucleon masses in the range 1.23–1.68 GeV (the 1st and 2nd resonance regions). The data are compared with predictions from fits to hydrogen data.

We have measured the cross section of four charged pion production in photon-photon interactions in the invariant mass range 1.0≦Wγγ≦3.2 GeV and up toQ2=16 GeV2. For 1.2 GeV≦Wγγ≦1.7 GeV the process is dominated by ρ0ρ0 production with a rapid rise in cross section around 1.2 GeV, well below the nominal ρ0ρ0 threshold. The observed distributions in the two particle masses and in the production and decay angles are well described by an incoherent sum of the phase-space subprocesses γγ →ρ0ρ0, →ρ0π+π−, and →π+π−π+π−. A spin-parity analysis of the ρ0ρ0 system showsJP=2+ to dominate, although 0+ is also possible forWγγ≦1.4 GeV. Negative partity states are excluded.

Data are presented for the reaction ep → ep π 0 at a nominal four-momentum transfer squared of 0.5 (GeV/ c ) 2 . The data were obtained using an extracted electron beam from NINA and two magnetic spectrometers for coincidence detection of the electron and proton. Details are given of the experimental method and the results are given for isobar masses in the range 1.19 – 1.73 GeV/ c 2 .

Differential cross sections for Compton scattering by the proton have been measured in the energy interval between 200 and 500 MeV at scattering angles of θ cms = 75° and θ cms = 90° using the CATS, the CATS/TRAJAN, and the COPP setups with the Glasgow Tagger at MAMI (Mainz). The data are compared with predictions from dispersion theory using photo-meson amplitudes from the recent VPI solution SM95. The experiment and the theoretical procedure are described in detail. It is found that the experiment and predictions are in agreement as far as the energy dependence of the differential cross sections in the Δ-range is concerned. However, there is evidence that a scaling down of the resonance part of the M 1+ 3 2 photo-meson amplitude by (2.8 ± 0.9)% is required in comparison with the VPI analysis. The deduced value of the M 1+ 3 2 - photoproduction amplitude at the resonance energy of 320 MeV is: |M 1+ 3 2 | = (39.6 ± 0.4) × 10 −3 m π + −1 .

We present a measurement of the cross section for the reaction e + e − → e + e − π + π − π + π − at SPEAR. This channel is found to be large and dominated by the process γγ → ϱ 0 ϱ 0 → π + π − π + π − . The cross section, which is small just above the four-pion threshold, exhibits a large enhancement near the ϱ 0 ϱ 0 threshold.

We have observed exclusive production of K + K − and K S O K S O pairs and the excitation of the f′(1515) tensor meson in photon-photon collisions. Assuming the f′ to be production in a helicity 2 state, we determine Λ( f ′ → γγ) B( f ′ → K K ) = 0.11 ± 0.02 ± 0.04 keV . The non-strange quark of the f′ is found to be less than 3% (95% CL). For the θ(1640) we derive an upper limit for the product Λ(θ rarr; γγ K K ) < 0.03 keV (95% CL ) .

Results are presented of an untagged e + e − → e + e − + π + π − experiment performed at PEP with the DELCO detector. In the invariant-mass range 0.7 ⩽ W ππ < 2.0 GeV/ c 2 , the QED e + e − background is identified and eliminated, and both the π + π − predictions and the μ + μ − and K + K − background substractions are normalized to the measurement of the e e + e − events. The results agree with a simple model of superposition and interference of the f 0 (1270) resonance, produced with helicity 2, with a Born-term continuum. From a fit of the model to the data, the radiative width of the f 0 is determined to be Γ f 0 → γγ = 2.70 ± 0.21 keV.

The cross section of the process e+ e- ---> eta gamma has been measured in the 600-1380 MeV c.m. energy range with the CMD-2 detector. The following branching ratios have been determined: B(rho ---> eta gamma) = (3.28 +- 0.37 +- 0.23) 10^{-4}, B(omega ---> eta gamma) = (5.10 +- 0.72 +- 0.34) 10^{-4}, B(phi --> eta gamma) = (1.287 +- 0.013 +- 0.063) 10^{-2}. Evidence for the rho'(1450) ---> eta gamma decay has been obtained for the first time.