We report on the exclusive production of π, K and proton pairs from photon-photon interactions at momentum transfers | t |⩾1 GeV 2 . Using the PLUTO detector at the e + e − storage ring PETRA, we have observed 15 events in an integrated luminosity of 41.7 pb −1 . The data lie far below the expectations for point-like hadrons, and are in reasonable agreement with the QCD-based predictions of Brodsky and Lepage.
THIS METHOD OF ANALYSIS OF THE OBSERVED RATIO OF HADRON TO MUON PAIRS, IS TIED TO THE SPECIFIC DETECTOR ACCEPTANCE, BUT HAS THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING VIRTUALLY INDEPENDENT OF THE HADRON MASSES.
SEE COMMENT IN PREVIOUS TABLE.
THIS METHOD OF ANALYSIS OF THE CROSS SECTION AT 90 DEG IN THE CM AS A FUNCTION OF PCM IS MORE EASILY COMPARED WITH THEORETICAL PREDICTIONS BUT MORE DEPENDENT ON THE SPECIFIC HADRON MASSES.