Exclusive production of π and K meson pairs in two photon collisions is measured with ALEPH data collected between 1992 and 2000. Cross-sections are presented as a function of cos θ ∗ and invariant mass, for | cos θ ∗ |<0.6 and invariant masses between 2.0 and 6.0 GeV/ c 2 (2.25 and 4.0 GeV/ c 2 ) for pions (kaons). The shape of the distributions are found to be well described by QCD predictions but the data have a significantly higher normalization.
Measured angular distribution for pion production.
Measured angular distribution for kaon production.
Measured cross section for pion production as a function of W.
A measurement of the cross section for the combined two-photon production of charged pion and kaon pairs is performed using 1.2~$\rm fb^{-1}$ of data collected by the CLEO~II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring. The cross section is measured at invariant masses of the two-photon system between 1.5 and 5.0 GeV/$c^2$, and at scattering angles more than $53^\circ$ away from the $\gamma\gamma$ collision axis in the $\gamma\gamma$ center-of-mass frame. The large background of leptonic events is suppressed by utilizing the CsI calorimeter in conjunction with the muon chamber system. The reported cross section is compared with leading order QCD models as well as previous experiments. In particular, although the functional dependence of the measured cross section disagrees with leading order QCD at small values of the two-photon invariant mass, the data show a transition to perturbative behavior at an invariant mass of approximately 2.5 GeV/$c^2$. hardcopies with figures can be obtained by writing to to: Pam Morehouse preprint secretary Newman Lab Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 or by sending mail to: preprints@lns62.lns.cornell.edu
There is an additional 10 pct point-to-point systematic error as well as the overall uncertainty given above.