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Differential cross sections for the elastic scattering of negative pi mesons on protons (π−−p→π−−p) were measured at the Berkeley Bevatron at five laboratory kinetic energies of the pion between 500 and 1000 MeV. The results were least-squares fitted with a power series in the cosine of the center-of-mass scattering angle, and total elastic cross sections for π−−p→π−−p were obtained by integrating under the fitted curves. The coefficients of the cosine series are shown plotted versus the incident pion laboratory kinetic energy. These curves display as a striking feature a large value of the coefficient of cos5θ* peaking in the vicinity of the 900-MeV resonance. This implies that a superposition of F52 and D52 partial waves is prominent in the scattering at this energy, since the coefficients for terms above cos5θ* are negligible. One possible explanation is that the F52 enhancement comes from an elastic resonance in the isotopic spin T=12 state, consistent with Regge-pole formalism, and the D52 partial-wave state may be enhanced by inelastic processes. At 600 MeV the values of the coefficients do not seem to demand the prominence of any single partial-wave state, although the results are compatible with an enhancement in the J=32 amplitude. A table listing quantum numbers plausibly associated with the various peaks and "shoulders" seen in the π±−p total cross-section curves is presented.

Differential cross sections for the reaction π−p→π0n were measured at nine incident-pion kinetic energies in the interval from 500 to 1300 MeV. The negative pion beam from the bevatron was focused on a liquidhydrogen target completely surrounded by a cubic array of six steel-plate spark chambers. The spark chambers were triggered on events with neutral final states. Charge-exchange events were identified from the one-shower and two-shower events in the spark-chamber pictures. By the Monte Carlo technique, the π0 distributions were calculated from the bisector distributions of the two-shower π0 events together with the observed γ-ray distributions of the one-shower π0 events. These π0 distributions were fitted with both Legendre-polynomial expansions and power-series expansions by the method of least squares. The extrapolated forward differential cross sections are in good agreement with the dispersion calculations. The Legendre coefficients for the differential cross sections in isospin state T=12 were obtained by combining our results with available data on π±p elastic scattering. In the light of existing phase-shift solutions, the behavior of these coefficients is discussed. The D5F5 interference term that peaks near 900 MeV is verified to be in isospin state T=12 only. We report here also the total neutral cross sections and the cross sections for the production of neutral multipion final states 2π0n and 3π0n. The 4π solid angle and the calibrated energy response of the spark chambers contribute to the accuracy of the results.

Differential cross sections for the elastic scattering of positive pi mesons by protons were measured at the Berkeley Bevatron at pion laboratory kinetic energies between 500 and 1600 MeV. Fifty scintillation counters and a matrix coincidence system were used to identify incoming pions and detect the recoil proton and pion companions. Results were fitted with a power series in the cosine of the center-of-mass scattering angle, and total elastic cross sections were obtained by integrating under the fitted curves. The coefficients of the cosine series are displayed, plotted versus the laboratory kinetic energy of the pion. The most striking features of these curves are the large positive value of the coefficient of cos6θ*, and the large negative value of the coefficient of cos4θ*, both of which maximize in the vicinity of the 1350-MeV peak in the total cross section. These results indicate that the most predominant state contributing to the scattering at the 1350-MeV peak has total angular momentum J=72, since the coefficients for terms above cos6θ* are negligible at this energy. One possible explanation is that the 1350-MeV peak is the result of an F72 resonance lying on the same Regge-pole trajectory as the (32, 32) resonance near 195 MeV.

Differential cross sections for elastic π−p scattering were measured at eight energies for positive pions and seven energies for negative pions. Energies ranged from 310 to 650 MeV. These measurements were made at the 3-GeV proton synchrotron at Saclay, France. A beam of pions from an internal BeO target was directed into a liquid-hydrogen target. Fifty-one scintillation counters and a matrix-coincidence system were used to measure simultaneously elastic events at 21 angles and charged inelastic events at 78 π−p angle pairs. Events were detected by coincidence of pulses indicating the presence of an incident pion, scattered pion, and recoil proton, and the results were stored in the memory of a pulse-height analyzer. Various corrections were applied to the data and a least-squares fit was made to the results at each energy. The form of the fitting function was a power series in the cosine of the center-of-mass angle of the scattered pion. Integration under the fitted curves gave values for the total elastic cross sections (without charge exchange). The importance of certain angular-momentum states is discussed. The π−−p data are consistent with a D13 resonant state at 600 MeV, but do not necessarily require such a resonant state.

The differential cross section for charge-exchange scattering of negative pions by hydrogen has been observed at 230, 260, 290, 317, and 371 Mev. The reaction was observed by detecting one gamma ray from the π0 decay with a scintillation-counter telescope. A least-squares analysis was performed to fit the observations to the function dσdω=Σl=15alPl−1(cosθ) in the c.m. frame. The best fit to our experimental measurements requires only s- and p-wave scattering. The results (in mb) are: The least-squares analysis indicates that d-wave scattering is not established in this energy range.

Interactions of 683-MeV/c negative pions with protons were investigated using the BNL 14-in. hydrogen bubble chamber in a 17-kG field. Two thousand elastic scatterings were analyzed, yielding a cross section of 18.9±1.0 mb. No evidence for powers of cosθ higher than the second was observed in the elastic angular distribution. The angular distribution obtained was dσdω=(0.384±0.026)+(1.70±0.06)cosθ+(3.36±0.11)cos2θ mb/sr. The single-pion production reactions π−+p→π−+π0+p and π−+p→π−+π++n were studied in detail. A total of 441 π0 productions and 833 π+ productions were analyzed giving cross sections of 3.99±0.50 and 7.50±0.80 mb, respectively. The differential distributions for these inelastic processes are presented and compared with the predictions of the model of Olsson and Yodh. The distribution of events on the Dalitz plots for π0 production is accounted for by the model. However, for the π+ reaction, the model (so far developed) does not describe adequately the distribution of events on the Dalitz plot. In particular, the model fails to account for the enhancement at high (π+π−) effective masses in ππ mass distribution. The center-of-mass angular distributions for π0 and π+ production reactions are presented and compared with the model.

Total cross sections for negative pions on protons were measured at laboratory energies of 230, 290, 370, 427, and 460 Mev. The measurements were made in the same pion beams as and at energies identical with those of our π−−p differential scattering experiments. Comparisons of the total and differential scattering can be made with the dispersion theory at a given energy without introducing the systematic errors that would normally enter due to uncertainties in the parameters of more than one pion beam. The measured total cross sections are found to agree within statistics with other measured values, and with the sums of elastic, inelastic, and charge-exchange cross sections measured at this laboratory. The results are:

An accurate measurement of the differential cross section for the photoproduction of positive pions from protons has been made at the Berkeley synchrotron for photon energies of 260 and 290 Mev. The mesons were produced in a thin-walled liquid-hydrogen target, and the meson-detection apparatus utilized the characteristic decay of the pion. The measurements were done in two steps, from 0° to 50° with equipment specifically designed to reduce a very high forward-angle positron background, and from 30° to 160° with equipment whose efficiency and solid angle could be accurately determined. The abrupt flattening of the observed cross section in the region forward of 40° is due to "photoelectric ejection" of pions from the cloud surrounding the nucleon. The results are compared to the theory of photo-production derived from the dispersion relations, and the agreement is satisfactory within the limitations of the theory.

The bremsstrahlung beam of the Cornell Bev electron synchrotron has been used to study the reaction γ+p→π0+p over the photon energy range 250 Mev to 1 Bev, and for center-of-mass pion angles between 20° and 70°. The recoil protons, of energies between 10 and 60 Mev, were identified and their energies determined using a range telescope of eight thin plastic scintillators enclosed in a vacuum chamber with the thin liquid hydrogen target. Correlated pulse-height information was obtained by photographing an oscilloscope display and was used to sort out the protons from mesons and electrons. Corrections were made for the background of photoprotons from the Mylar target cup, the energy loss of the protons in the liquid hydrogen, absorption and scattering in the counter telescope, and the variation of beam intensity profile with energy. Compared with previous experiments and extrapolations the results show a somewhat smaller forward differential cross section above 400 Mev. The angular distributions obtained from a least-squares fit to all existing data indicate a d32 assignment for the 760-Mev resonance level. Other implications of the data are also discussed.