Diffractive photoproduction of the ϱ-meson

?^o photoproduction is analyzed in the framework of the Regge pole model, considering only pomeron exchange and assuming coservation of the photon helicity in the s-channel for small momentum transfer (∣t∣ < 0.3 (GeV/c)²). The main features of ?^o photoproduction are well described.     

On new predictions of the vector-meson dominance model for the reactions πN → ϱ0N and γN → πN

It is shown that the assumption of pole vector-meson dominance for the Ball invariant amplitude having a π-meson pole is sufficient for reproducing the longitudinal amplitude of ?⁰-production by the photoproduction amplitude at |t| < 0.1 (GeV/c)². The strong k²-dependence of the Ball invariant amplitude without the π-meson pole has been found by the deviations of theoretical predictions obtained in the VDM framework for the longitudinal ?⁰-production amplitude from the experimental data in the region |t| > 0.1 (GeV/c)². A natural explanation of the k²-dependence in the one-pion exchange model with absorption is given. The problem of A₂-exchange is discussed.     

Quasielastic rho-meson knockout from nucleons by high-energy electrons

The electroproduction of charged rho mesons on a nucleon under conditions of quasielastic kinematics [Q ² > 2 (GeV/c)², W > 3 GeV, and ω _ρ ? q ⁰ in the laboratory frame] is considered. The main diagrams involved in this process are taken into account, and it is shown that the case of rho-meson knockout by a longitudinal photon is dominated by the t-channel pole diagram featuring a rho meson, so that direct rho-meson electroknockout makes a leading contribution to the process being considered. Questions concerning the gauge invariance of the electroproduction process are considered in detail, along with contact terms that inevitably arise in employing form factors in ρNN vertices and which are necessary for restoring gauge invariance. It is shown that the structure of these contact terms is not determined exclusively by the requirement that the electroproduction amplitude be gauge-invariant and may be such that the corresponding correction to the dominant diagram due to these terms proves to be suppressed in the quasielastic region (with increasing Q ²), with the result that the t-pole process featuring a rho meson remains dominant; at the same time, the contribution of this correction is significant at low Q ² or in the case of photoproduction, modifying substantially the electroproduction cross section.     

Electroproduction of π+ n, π- p andK + Λ,K + 2211; 0 final states above the resonance region

The reactionsΣ _v p→π⁺ n,K ⁺ Λ,K ⁺ ∑ ⁰ andΣ _v n→π⁺ n were studied at invariant hadronic masses around 2.2. GeV forQ ²=0.06, 0.28, 0.70, and 1.35 GeV². The main results are: At small |t| the π⁺ production is dominated by longitudinally polarized photons and can be described by one pion exchange. At low |t| the transverse (π⁺ n) cross section drops steeply withQ ², but remains roughly constant forQ ²≧0.5 GeV². For |t?≧0.8 GeV², (π⁺ n/dt) is almost independent ofQ ². The integrated cross section (π⁺ n) shows a similarQ ²-dependence asσ _tot (γ _v p) forQ ²≧0.28 GeV². The ratioσ(π^- p)/σ(π⁺ n) atQ ²=0.70 and 1.35 GeV² for |t|≧0.6 GeV² is smaller than in photoproduction and close to 1/4. The ratioσ(K ⁺ ∑ ⁰ decreases steeply withQ ² following roughly the predictions of the quark-parton model.     

Measurement of elastic J/ψ photoproduction at HERA

The reaction γ p → J/ψ p has been studied in ep interactions using the ZEUS detector at HERA. The cross section for elastic J/ψ photoproduction has been measured as a function of the photon-proton centre of mass energy W in the range 40 < W < 140 GeV at a median photon virtuality Q ² of 5 × 10^?5 GeV². The photoproduction cross section, σ_{γp→ J/ψp}, is observed to rise steeply with W. A fit to the data presented in this paper to determine the parameter δ in the form σ_{γp→ J/ψp} α W ^δ yields the value δ = 0.92±0.14±0.10. The differential cross section dσ/d ¦t¦is presented over the range ¦t¦< 1.0 GeV² where t is the square of the four-momentum exchanged at the proton vertex. dσ/d ¦t¦falls exponentially with a slope parameter of $4.6pm 0.4_{-0.6}^{+0.4} {? GeV}^{-2}$. The measured decay angular distributions are consistent with s-channel helicity conservation.     

A non-relativistic operator convenient for analysis of pion photoproduction on nuclei in the Δ(1236) region

In view of its application to the analysis of medium energy photonuclear reactions we have obtained an operator valid, to order $\text{(}\text{p}\text{m}\text{)}{}^2$, in any frame of reference. We have started from a model where the pion photoproduction on a nucleon is described by the Born terms and the s-channel Δ(1236) formation amplitude and we have deduced the non-relativistic limit of the corresponding matrix elements. Both pseudo-scalar and pseudo-vector pion-nucleon couplings are compared. The Δ(1236) parameters are chosen so as to lead to a good account of pion-nucleon reaction cross sections. The agreement with the charged photoproduction data is very good from threshold through the Δ(1236) energy region, whereas the addition of ω⁰ exchange in the t-channel is necessary to reproduce the neutral pion photoproduction cross sections. As an example this operator is used to derive the cross section of the γD → ppπ^? reaction in the spectator nucleon model when the undiscernability of the two outgoing protons is taken into account.     

Measurement of elastic ω photoproduction at HERA ZEUS Collaboration

The reaction γp →ωp(ω → π⁺π^?π⁰ and π⁰ → γ γ) has been studied in ep interactions using the ZEUS detector at photon-proton centre-of-mass energies between 70 and 90GeV and ∣t∣ < 0.6GeV², where t is the squared four momentum transferred at the proton vertex. The elastic ω photoproduction cross section has been measured to be σ_{γp → ωp} = 1.21 ±0.12 ±0.23 μb. The differential cross section dσ_γp→ωp/d¦t¦ has an exponential shape e^?b∣t∣ with a slope b =10.0 ± 1.2 ± 1.3 GeV^?2. The angular distributions of the decay pions are consistent with s-channel helicity conservation. When compared to low energy data, the features of ω photoproduction as measured at HERA energies are in agreement with those of a soft diffractive process. Previous measurements of the ρ⁰ and ? photoproduction cross sections at HERA show a similar behaviour.     

A measurement of the beam asymmetry parameter Σ for neutral pion photoproduction in the energy range 1.2–2.8 GeV

An experiment has been completed at the Daresbury synchrotron to measure the asymmetry in the photoproduction cross section of neutral pions on hydrogen, for photons polarised normal to and in the production plane. The source of polarised photons was coherent bremsstrahlung of electrons traversing the lattice structure of diamond and the polarisation P of the γ beam was calculated from the measured intensity of the coherent spike. The asymmetry parameter Σ, defined as Σ = (σ⊥ ? σ|)/(σ⊥ + σ|) where σ⊥(σ|) are the cross sections for photons polarised perpendicular (parallel) to the production plane, has been measured over a range of photon energies from 1.2 to 2.8 GeV and over a range of ?t (the square of the four-momentum transfer) from 0.13 (GeV/c)² to 1.4 (GeV/c)². A marked energy variation in the value of Σ is found over the energy region 1.6–1.8 GeV.     

Rho production by virtual photons

The reaction γ_Vp → pπ⁺π^? was studied in the W, Q² region 1.3–2.8 GeV, 0.3–1.4 GeV² using the streamer chamber at DESY. A detailed analysis of rho production viaγ_Vp→?⁰p is presented. Near threshold rho production has peripheral and non-peripheral contributions of comparable magnitude. At higher energies (W > 2 GeV) the peripheral component is dominant. The Q² dependence of σ(γ_Vp→?⁰p) follows that of the rho propagator as predicted by VDM. The slope of dσ/dt at 〈Q²〉 = 0.4 and 0.8 GeV² is within errors equal to its value at Q² = 0. The overall shape of the ?⁰ is t dependent as in photoproduction, but is independent of Q². The decay angular distribution shows that longitudinal rhos dominate in the threshold region. At higher energies transverse rhos are dominant. Rho production by transverse photons proceeds almost exclusively by natural parity exchange, σ_T^N ? (0.83 ± 0.06) σ_T for 2.2 < W < 2.8 GeV. The s-channel helicity-flip amplitudes are small compared to non-flip amplitudes. The ratio R = σ_L/σ_T was determined assuming s-channel helicity conservation. We find R = ξ²Q²/M_?² with ξ² ≈ 0.4 for 〈W〉 = 2.45 GeV. Interference between rho production amplitudes from longitudinal and transverse photons is observed. With increasing energy the phase between the two amplitudes decreases. The observed features of rho electroproduction are consistent with a dominantly diffractive production mechanism for W > 2 GeV.     

Elastic photoproduction of ϱ0 mesons at HERA

The cross section for the elastic photoproduction of ϱ⁰ mesons (γp → ϱ⁰p) has been measured with the H1 detector at HERA for two average photon-proton centre-of-mass energies of 55 and 187 GeV. The lower energy point was measured by observing directly the ϱ⁰ decay giving a cross section of 9.1 ± 0.9 (stat.) ± 2.5 (syst.) μb. The logarithmic slope parameter of the differential cross section, dσ/dt, is found to be 10.9 ± 2.4 (stat.) ± 1.1 (syst.) GeV⁻². The ϱ⁰ decay polar angular distribution is found to be consistent with s-channel helicity conservation. The higher energy cross section was determined from analysis of the lower part of the hadronic invariant mass spectrum of diffractive photoproduction and found to be 13.6 ± 0.8 (stat.) ± 2.4 (syst.) μb.     

Rise of proton proton total cross section and inclusive spectra

The origin of the rise of p-p total cross section (σ_t(pp)) is investigated by making use of the inclusive sum rule. The contribution to the rise of σ_t(pp) from the development of sharp peak near the kinematical boundary in the process p+p→p+ “anything” is almost completely canceled out by the decrease of the cross section in other x-region between s=45 (GeV/c)² and s=2820 (GeV/c)². Then the net contribution to the rise of σ_t(pp) from the process p+p→p+ “anything” is very likely to be zero. The true origin of the rise of σ_t(pp) is found to be the increase of inclusive cross sections at x ? 0 between PS and ISR energies. The contribution from the process p+p→π+ “anything” at x ? 0 to the rise of σ_t(pp) is estimated to be 3.2 mb, that from the process p+p→K + “anything”, 0.71 mb and that from the process p+p→$\text{p}$ “anything”, 0.62 mb. According to our conclusion we expect that all total cross sections will rise with energy at high energy.     

The structure of t-channel exchanges in KN scattering

Recent phase-shift solutions are used to evaluate KN FESR integrals in order to examine zeros and phases of the t-channel exchange amplitudes in the most model-independent way. The results suggest that the line reversal breaking in KN CEX observed for pL ? 5.5 GeV/c is due to a large EXD breaking component in the A₂ exchange flip amplitude. The ? exchange flip amplitude is well described by a Regge pole amplitude with NWSZ at ?t ≈ 0.5 (GeV/c)². The imaginary parts of ? and ω exchange non-flip amplitudes are both peripheral.     

s-and t-channel helicity conservation of pion induced nucleon diffraction dissociation at 3.9 GeV/c and the implications of a two-component model

A study of schannel and t-channel helicity conservation has been carried out on a prism plot separated sample of 3.9 GeV/cπ^±p → π (Nπ)_dd diffraction dissociation events. s-channel helicity conservation is found to be strongly violated while t-channel helicity conservation is found to be mildly violated. These results are similar to that found at 11.7 GeV/c. We explain these violations on the basis of a “two-component model” of which the first component is a single exchange amplitude. We postulate that this amplitude is the generalization of the pomeron exchange amplitude which may conserve s-channel helicity. The second component of the model is a double exchange mechanism which strongly violates s-channel helicity. The predictions of this model agree with the experimental data.     

High energy pion photoproduction amplitudes from fixed-t dispersion relations and duality

Contributions to the high energy imaginary parts of the charged and neutral pion photoproduction amplitudes from degenerate ? and A₂ exchanges and ω and B exchanges are parametrized similarly to the dual absorptive model. These contributions together with the imaginary parts of the amplitudes found at low energies from partial-wave analyses are then used to evaluate the high energy real parts of the photoproduction amplitudes from fixed-t dispersion relations. A fit is made to data on pion photoproduction at 3.4 and 16 GeV incident photon energies, for momentum transfers up to ?1(GeV/c)². It is shown that much of the data is reproduced both qualitatively and quantitatively by our model. The high energy imaginary parts of the photoproduction amplitudes given by the fit are shown to be in accord with their average low energy behaviour.     

ω Meson photoproduction from deuterium at 3.9 GeV photon energy

Measurements are presented of the cross sections for ω meson photoproduction from deuterium at an average photon energy of 3.9 GeV. The cross section for the coherent process γd → dω is found to be 1.4 ± 0.5 μb and that for the incoherent process γd → npω is 3.3 ± 0.7 μb. The forward differential cross section for γd → dω is estimated to be (dσ/dt)_t=0 = 54 ± 20 μb/GeV². This result indicates that the value of the A₂ exchange amplitude in ω photoproduction from hydrogen is less than that predicted from the measurements of the difference between the total hadron photoproduction cross sections from neutrons and protons. We note that the world data tend to show that the A₂ exchange amplitude is more consistent with zero than with the value needed to explain these differences. Measurements are also presented of the ratio of the coupling constants of the photon to the ? and ω mesons which tend to favour the vector dominance model proposed by Das, Mathur and Okubo with exact SU(3) symmetry at infinite energies.     

Information from leading neutrons at HERA

In principle, leading neutrons produced in photoproduction and deep-inelastic scattering at HERA have the potential to determine the pion structure function, the neutron absorptive cross section and the form of the pion flux. To explore this potential we compare theoretical predictions for the x_L and p_t spectra of leading neutrons and the Q² dependence of the cross section with the existing ZEUS data.     

Measurement of π−p → π0n at large momentum transfer

New results on a high statistics measurement of pion-nucleon charge exchange scattering at 40 GeV/c, extending in momentum transfer up to ?t = 1.8 (GeV/c)², are reported and compared with an optical impact parameter model, together with previous data for the reaction π^?p → ηn at the same energy. The imaginary part of the pole trajectory b₀(s) is determined from the slope of the tangent to the maxima of $\text{(?t)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{d}\text{σ}\text{d}\text{t}$. The linear increase of Im b₀(s) with log s, which has been observed at low energies, continues up to 40 GeV/c.     

Study of π−π− scattering in π−n interactions at high energies

We have measured the inclusive cross section for the reaction π^?n→pX^?? at 21, 205 and 360 GeV/c in the kinematic region |t_np|<1.0 (GeV/c)². The differential cross sections can be described qualitatively by the reggeized one-pion-exchange amplitude at all momenta studied; however, there is evidence for the contribution of other amplitudes. The extracted π^?π^? total cross section for 4?s_ππ?340 GeV² is of the order of 10–12 mb. The average number of charged particles and dispersion of the charged particle multiplicity distributions for various s_ππ intervals are compatible with results observed in hadron-proton interactions.     

Elastic antiproton-deutron scattering below 1.0 GeV/c

We present differential cross sections for elastic $\text{p}$d scattering at beam momenta 0.735 and 0.940 GeV/c and momentum transfers in the range 0.04<|t|<0.5(GeV/c)². The $\text{p}$d elastic differential cross section is expressed in terms of a deutron form factor and the I=0 t-channel exchange $\text{N}$N amplitudes, enabling us to isolate the corresponding I=0 t-channel exchange cross sections.