Hydrogen and deuterium gases have been bombarded in a gas target at a temperature of 77°K and at a pressure of about 140 atmospheres by the 318±10 Mev "spread-out" bremsstrahlung photon beam of the Berkeley electron synchrotron. The charged π-mesons which were produced were collimated at angles of 45°, 90°, and 135° to the beam direction. The π+ mesons were detected with trans-stilbene scintillation crystals using πμ, πβ, and πμβ delayed coincidences and π+ and π− mesons were detected with Ilford C-2 200-micron nuclear emulsions. The ratios of the numbers of π− to π+ mesons produced in deuterium were 0.96±0.10, 1.09±0.12, and 1.21±0.17 for the angles of 45°, 90°, and 135°, respectively. No variation of the ratio with meson energy, outside statistics, was observed. Absolute values for the π+ meson energy distribution functions from hydrogen and deuterium per "equivalent quantum" have been measured at each of the above production angles. The differential and total cross sections have been obtained by integrating over energy and angle, respectively. The experimental ratios of the deuterium to hydrogen cross sections are in good agreement with the phenomenological theory of Chew and Lewis when the Hulthén deuteron function with β=6α is used in the initial state, plane waves are used for the nucleons in the final state, and the bremsstrahlung cutoff is taken into account. The statistics of the data are, however, not sufficient to determine the amount of spin interaction. The excitation functions for hydrogen and deuterium and points on the angular distribution curves in the center-of-mass system have been obtained. An upper limit of 0.08 of the charged π-meson cross section was obtained for μ-meson production from deuterium.

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The photoproduction of charged pions from deuterium has been studied using a "monochromatic" gamma-ray beam of 292±8 Mev. The energy spectra of both positive and negative pions at the laboratory angle of 120° were determined and both agreed within experimental error with that predicted by the theory of Lax and Feshbach. The negative-to-positive ratio at 120° was 1.07±0.16, and within experimental error, was independent of meson energy. At an angle of 73° the ratio was 0.90±0.23 for 98.7 Mev mesons. The measured negative-to-positive ratio disagrees both with the simple classical picture of Brueckner and the phenomenological theory of Watson. Some results on the ratio using a bremsstrahlung beam are given.

The ratio of the yields of negative and positive pions photoproduced in deuterium has been measured at six photon energies between 500 and 1000 Mev and at seven angles between 20° and 160° in the center-of-momentum system of the photon and target nucleon. Pions were selected with a magnetic spectrometer and identified using momentum and specific ionization in a scintillation counter telescope. The spectator model of the deuteron was used to identify the photon energy. Statistical errors assigned to the π−π+ ratio range between five and fifteen percent. The results of the present experiment join smoothly with the low-energy π−π+ ratios obtained by Sands et al. At high energies the π−π+ ratio varies from 0.5 at forward angles and energies near 900 Mev to 2.5 at 160° c.m. and energies 600 to 800 Mev. The cross sections for π− photo-production from neutrons have been derived from the π−π+ ratio and the CalTech π+ photoproduction data. The angular distributions for π− production are considerably different from those for π+; there is, for example, a systematic increase at the most backward angles. The energy dependence of the total cross section for π− is similar to that for π+, although the second resonance peak occurs at a slightly lower energy, and at 900 and 1000 Mev the π− cross section is smaller by a factor 1.6. A comparison is made of the cross sections for π+ photoproduction from hydrogen and deuterium, although the accuracy of this comparison is not high.

The polarization of the proton from the γ+n→p+π− reaction in deuterium has been experimentally measured at 90° in the center-of-mass system for photon energies near 715 MeV by using a counter technique to observe the left to right asymmetry in the scattering of the protons from carbon. A value of -0.26±0.06 was observed, with the direction of the polarization defined by n^=(k^×q^)|k^×q^|, where k^ and q^ are, respectively, unit vectors in the directions of the photon momentum and the pion momentum. The result is interpreted as an indication that the interference between the P32 (325 MeV) and D32 (750 MeV) resonances may not be the dominant contribution to the polarization at this energy. Significant contributions from either an interference between the P32 (325 MeV) resonance and the possible new resonance suggested by the π, p scattering measurements, or an interference between the D32 (750 MeV) and F52 (1050 MeV) resonances, or a combination of these two possibilities seem to be required.

Accurate measurements have been made of the π−π+ photoproduction ratio on deuterium, in the gammaray energy range 165-210 MeV, for several angles: 155°, 125°, 90° (center-of-mass system) and along Baldin's kinematical line. These last data are new contributions: π−π+=1.20±0.03 averaged between 165 and 180 MeV. The others are improvements of the accuracy of previous data. The comparison with Ball's theory, corrected for taking into account the I=12 phase shifts, gives for the coupling constant Λ for γ−π−p the value: 0.25<+Λe<0.75.

Measurements have been made on the ratio of pion-production cross sections at right angles to and along the photon electric-field vector. The positive and negative pions were first momentum-analyzed and counted by means of a counter telescope. Data have been taken at 45, 90, and 135° in the c.m. system, and at proton energies of 225, 330, and 450 MeV. A comparison of the data is made with the dispersion-relation calculation of McKinley.

The differential cross section for the photoproduction of a π− meson from the neutron bound in the deuteron was measured for pion laboratory angles of 76°, 96°, and 118° at incident gamma-ray energies in the region of 275 MeV. The π− meson and the high-energy proton were detected. The pion momentum and angle were measured by sets of spark chambers situated in front of and behind a magnetic field. The proton angle and range were also measured with spark chambers. To calculate "free" neutron cross sections from our data, we used a modified version of the extrapolation method suggested by Chew and Low. By observing the π+ only, the differential cross section for π+ photoproduction from hydrogen also was measured. As determined by this experiment, the differential cross section for photoproduction of a π− meson from a "free" neutron and the differential cross section for photoproduction of a π+ meson from hydrogen are as follows: Eγlab≃275 MeV These results disagree with the dispersion theory predictions of Chew, Goldberger, Low, and Nambu. They also disagree with McKinley's dispersion theory calculations which include a bipion or ρ-meson term in the production amplitudes.

Differential cross sections for the photoproduction of single charged pions from deuterium and hydrogen have been measured at pion center-of-mass angles between 30° and 90° and at photon energies between 3.0 and 3.7 GeV. The ratio of π− to π+ cross sections from deuterium is found to be appreciably smaller than 1.

The differential asymmetry ratio for the process γ+n→p+π− was measured at 90° in the center-of-mass system and for incident photon energies from 352 to 550 MeV. The observed asymmetries are larger than the values predicted from the theory by Berends, Donnachie, and Weaver. A smaller M1- amplitude gives better agreement between the experiment and the theory.