We study the processes $e^+ e^-\to 2(\pi^+\pi^-)\pi^0\gamma$, $2(\pi^+\pi^-)\eta\gamma$, $K^+ K^-\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0\gamma$ and $K^+ K^-\pi^+\pi^-\eta\gamma$ with the hard photon radiated from the initial state. About 20000, 4300, 5500 and 375 fully reconstructed events, respectively, are selected from 232 fb$^{-1}$ of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective $e^+ e^-$ center-of-mass energy, so that the obtained cross sections from the threshold to about 5 GeV can be compared with corresponding direct \epem measurements, currently available only for the $\eta\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\omega\pi^+\pi^-$ submodes of the $e^+ e^-\to 2(\pi^+\pi^-)\pi^0$ channel. Studying the structure of these events, we find contributions from a number of intermediate states, and we extract their cross sections where possible. In particular, we isolate the contribution from $e^+ e^-\to\omega(782)\pi^+\pi^-$ and study the $\omega(1420)$ and $\omega(1650)$ resonances. In the charmonium region, we observe the $J/\psi$ in all these final states and several intermediate states, as well as the $\psi(2S)$ in some modes, and we measure the corresponding branching fractions.

We study the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, with a hard photon radiated from the initial state. About 60,000 fully reconstructed events have been selected from 89 $fb^{-1}$ of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective \epem center-of-mass energy, so that these data can be compared with the corresponding direct $e^+e^-$ measurements. From the $4\pi$-mass spectrum, the cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ is measured for center-of-mass energies from 0.6 to 4.5 $GeV/c^2$. The uncertainty in the cross section measurement is typically 5%. We also measure the cross sections for the final states $K^+ K^- \pi^+\pi^-$ and $K^+ K^- K^+ K^-$. We observe the $J/\psi$ in all three final states and measure the corresponding branching fractions. We search for X(3872) in $J/\psi (\to\mu^+\mu^-) \pi^+\pi^-$ and obtain an upper limit on the product of the $e^+e^-$ width of the X(3872) and the branching fraction for $X(3872) \to J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-$.

First results of the study of the process e+e- \to 4\pi by the CMD-2 collaboration at VEPP-2M are presented for the energy range 1.05--1.38 GeV. Using an integrated luminosity of 5.8 pb^{-1}, energy dependence of the processes e+e- \to \pi^+\pi^- 2\pi^0 and e+e- \to 2\pi^+ 2\pi^- has been measured. Analysis of the differential distributions demonstrates the dominance of the a_1\pi and \omega\pi intermediate states. Upper limits for the contributions of other alternative mechanisms are also placed.

The yields and average transverse momenta of pions, kaons, and antiprotons produced at the Fermilab p¯p collider at s=300, 540, 1000, and 1800 GeV are presented and compared with data from the energies reached at the CERN collider. We also present data on the dependence of average transverse momentum 〈pt〉 and particle ratios as a function of charged particle density dNcdη; data for particle densities as high as six times the average value, corresponding to a Bjorken energy density 6 GeV/fm3, are reported. These data are relevant to the search for quark-gluon phase of QCD.

Absolute π±p elastic scattering differential cross sections have been measured at five incident pion energies between 87 and 139 MeV. An active target of scintillator material (CH1.1) was used to detect recoil protons in coincidence with scattered pions. Pions were detected at forward angles between 27 and 98°c.m. where the low-energy recoil protons stop in the target. The cross sections, typically 5–10% lower than phase shift predictions for π+p and 10–20% lower for the π−p cross sections, are consistent with earlier measurements by this group.

The production of π∘ mesons in the reaction γ+p→π∘+p is investigated as a function of the incident γ-ray energy in the region from 200 Mev to 300 Mev. For the π∘ emitted at approximately 90° laboratory angle, the differential cross section can be represented by (dσπ∘dΩ)π2=C(K−145)1.9±0.4, where K= energy of incident γ-ray in Mev. The approximate threshold for the reaction is 145 Mev. The ratio of the cross section at 60° laboratory angle to that at 90° laboratory angle, for γ-rays between 250 Mev and 300 Mev, is 1.45±0.25.

The π0 photoproduction cross section has been measured at 180° for photon energies from 220 to 380 MeV, in steps of 20 MeV, by detecting the recoil proton at 0°. The statistical accuracy of the measurements varies between 3 and 7%, depending on the energy. Absolute cross sections have been deduced from a comparison of the measurements with electron-proton scattering. The experimental data are compared with theoretical results calculated from fixed-momentum-transfer dispersion relations. Special attention is paid to the prediction of the multipoles at the first resonance, namely, E1+32, M1+32, and E0+π0 to obtain agreement with experiment.

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.

Differential cross sections for Compton scattering from the free proton at Θ γ ′ lab =130.7° in the energy region from 200 MeV to 410 MeV and for quasi-free Compton scattering from the proton bound in the deuteron at Θ γ ′ lab =148.8° in the energy region from 200 MeV to 290 MeV have been measured. The free proton data are in agreement with dispersion-theory predictions based on standard parameters. The difference of the proton polarizabilities has been extracted from the quasi-free data. Our result, α ̄ − β ̄ =[9.1±1.7( stat+syst )±1.2( mod )]×10 −4 fm 3 , is in reasonable agreement with the world average of the free proton data if the backward spin polarizability γ π is taken to be −37.6×10 −4 fm 4 as predicted by dispersion theory in agreement with many theoretical calculations. This implies that quasi-free Compton scattering may also be used to determine the electromagnetic polarizabilities of the neutron. No indication has been found of a recently suggested new contribution to γ π .

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 .