Production ofD,D * andD s mesons in 200 GeV/c π− K − andp-Si interactions

The NA 32 experiment at the CERN SPS has collected 38 million hadronic interactions with incident 200 GeV/c π^?,K ^? andp beam. Using a segmented silicon active target and a telescope of high resolution silicon microstrip counters we have selected fully reconstructedD ⁰→K ^?π⁺,D ⁰→K ^?π⁺π⁺π^?,D ⁺→K ^?π⁺π⁺,D _s ⁺ →K ^? K ⁺π⁺π⁺ and charge conjugate decays. The integrated cross-sections forD ^o,D ⁺ D ^*+ andD _s ⁺ meson production and the dependence of the cross-section on longitudinal and transverse momentum of theD are presented.     

Production properties ofD 0,D +,D *+ andD s + in 230 GeV/cπ − andK −-Cu interactions

We have studied the hadronic production of charmed mesons in the NA 32 experiment at CERN. A special trigger together with a high resolution vertex detector consisting of charge coupled devices and silicon microstrip detectors allowed the selection of very clean samples of charmed mesons. We have collected 852 fully reconstructed decays: 60D _s ⁺ →K ⁺ K ^?π⁺, 543D°→K ^?π⁺ andK ^?π⁺π^?π⁺ as well as 249D ⁺→K ^?π⁺π⁺ (or charge conjugate). 147 mesons out of our \({{D^0 } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{D^0 } {\bar D^0 }}} \right. \kern-0em} {\bar D^0 }}\) sample were produced via chargedD ^* state. For all charmed mesons we determine the total production cross-section and study thex _F andp _t ² distributions.     

Pionic deuterium

The strong-interaction shift ε _1s ^πD and broadening Γ _1s ^πD in pionic deuterium have been determined in a high statistics study of the πD(3p-1s) X-ray transition using a high-resolution crystal spectrometer. The pionic deuterium shift will provide constraints for the pion-nucleon isospin scattering lengths extracted from measurements of shift and broadening in pionic hydrogen. The hadronic broadening is related to pion absorption and production at threshold. The results are ε _1s ^πD = (?2356 ± 31) meV (repulsive) and Γ _1s ^πD meV yielding for the complex πD scattering length a _πD = [?(24.99±0.33)+i(6.22 _?0.26 ^+0.12 )] × 10^?3 m _π ^?1 . From the imaginary part, the threshold parameter for pion production is obtained to be α = (251 _?11 ⁺⁵ ) μb. This allows, in addition, and by using results from pion absorption in ³He at threshold, the determination of the effective couplings g ₀ and g ₁ for s-wave pion absorption on isoscalar and isovector NN pairs.     

Transverse momentum dependence of the e/π ratio and the decay of continuum vector states into di-leptons

The recently observed rise of the e/π ratio at small transverse momentum in pp collisions can be understood in a model with continuum hadronic vector states which decay into di-leptons. The mass and momentum distribution of the continuum hadronic states—which we derive from the distribution of produced quarks—is consistent with the distribution of hadronic clusters as determined from multi hadron correlation studies.     

Hadronic scaling and ratios of cosmic-ray components in the atmosphere

Using the scaling hypothesis of hadronic inclusive reactions at high energy and data from accelerators we compute ratios of cosmic-ray components in the atmosphere. For the μ⁺/μ^? ratio at sea level we find that the inclusion on nuclear effects results in a better agreement with experimental data. In the case of the (π⁺ + π^?)/p ratio, we predict a value at high energy that is considerably larger than the one usually inferred from lower energy data.     

Thermal relaxation of charm in hadronic matter

The thermal relaxation rate of open-charm (D) mesons in hot and dense hadronic matter is calculated using empirical elastic scattering amplitudes. D-meson interactions with thermal pions are approximated by D^? resonances, while scattering off other hadrons (K, η, ρ, ω, K^?, N, Δ) is evaluated using vacuum scattering amplitudes as available in the literature based on effective Lagrangians and constrained by realistic spectroscopy. The thermal relaxation time of D-mesons in a hot π gas is found to be around 25-50 fm/c for temperatures T=150-180 MeV, which reduces to 10-25 fm/c in a hadron-resonance gas. The latter values, argued to be conservative estimates, imply significant modifications of D-meson spectra in heavy-ion collisions. Close to the critical temperature (Tc), the spatial diffusion coefficient (Ds) is surprisingly similar to recent calculations for charm quarks in the Quark-Gluon Plasma using non-perturbative T-matrix interactions. This suggests a possibly continuous minimum structure of Ds around Tc.     

New Interpretation of the ABC Effect in Two-Pion Production in NN Collisions

We investigate the basic 2π-fusion reaction pn → d + (ππ)₀ in the energy region T _p = 1–1.4GeV within the framework of a model based on a D ₀₃-dibaryon production and its subsequent decay via two interfering routes: through an intermediate σ meson and through an isovector dibaryon D ₁₂. We demonstrate that the constructive interference of the above two mechanisms gives a strong near-threshold enhancement in the ππ invariant-mass spectrum, i.e., the so-called ABC effect. It is shown that the σ-meson emission from the D ₀₃ dibaryon plays a crucial role in reproducing the shape and position of the ABC enhancement and is tightly related to the idea of chiral symmetry restoration in dense and excited hadronic systems, such as the D ₀₃ state.     

Hadronic decay of τ

We present predictions for invariant mass distributions of the pions in τ→ν+2π and τ→ν+4π as well as improved predictions for hadronic decay rates of τ. We discuss a number of predictions which, if contradicted by τ decays, will imply the existence of a new weak interaction.     

Production of P-wave charm and charm-strange mesons in hadronic Z0 decays

Results are presented on the production of excited charm and excited charm-strange mesons in hadronic Z⁰ decays. The results are obtained from approximately 4.3 million hadronic Z⁰ decays, collected on or near the Z⁰ resonance using the OPAL detector at LEP. The D⁰ ₁(2420) and D^*0 ₂ (2460) mesons are reconstructed in the D^*+π^-. final state and their separate production rates in charm fragmentation and in weak decays of b-hadrons are determined. Assuming that the decay widths of these mesons are saturated by the allowed D*π and Dπ final states, the charm hadronization fractions and the inclusive branching ratios of b-hadrons to these neutral P-wave charm mesons are determined to be     

Determination of the hadronic width of the ground state in pionic hydrogen

In a new high-precision experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), the hadronic shift (ε _1s) and width (Γ_1s) of the ground state of pionic hydrogen, which are directly connected to the pion-nucleon isospin scattering lengths, were remeasured (PSI-Experiment R-98-01 Gotta et al. 1998). The results can be confronted with recent work of effective field theories defined in the low-energy limit of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), such as, e. g., chiral perturbation theory (ChPT). In addition, Γ_1s is connected to the pion-nucleon coupling constant f _πN. A precisely known value for f _πN allows an accurate determination of the Goldberger-Treiman discrepancy, which constitutes a measure of chiral symmetry breaking. This contribution is mainly devoted to describe a method for an accurate extraction of the hadronic width from the π ^??H data.     

Investigation of the narrow structure K(1630) decaying into the K S 0 π+π− system

The narrow structure K(1630) is singled out in the effective-mass spectrum of the K _S ⁰ π⁺π^? system originating from π^? p collisions at 16 GeV/c. This structure is predominantly formed in inelastic collisions accompanied by high momentum transfers. For events from the K(1630) region, kinematical distributions show special features that may be associated with spin manifestations and with correlations between the products arising from the decays of the hypothesized exotic resonance state. Experimental observations of narrow hadronic structures formed at high momentum transfers are reviewed.     

The vector and tensor exchange contributions to πN → πN

Using fixed-t dispersion relations together with experimental data on π^?p → π⁰n we determine the real and imaginary parts of the s-channel helicity amplitudes (SHA) of the vector (?) exchange contribution to πN → πN. The results are in good agreement with amplitude analyses. We also make comparison with finite-energy sum-rules (FESR) and discuss certain implications. Furthermore, on the basis of two-component duality and FESR we calculate the tensor (f) contribution. The t-structure of the resulting SHA is compared with independent information on hadronic tensor exchanges.     

First evidence for upsilon production by pions

We have measured the production of massive muon pairs in hadronic collisions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). A clear signal of production of the ? resonance by π⁺ of 200 GeV/c and π^? of 200 and 280 GeV/c on a platinum target is observed.     

Higher-twist effects in QCD,deep inelastic scattering,and the Drell-Yan process

Inclusion of specific effects associated with constituent binding in hadronic wave functions is shown to lead to important non-scaling, nonfactorizing 1/Q ² contributions to cross sections for semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering, the Drell-Yan process, and other hard scattering reactions. These 1/Q ² higher-twist terms are predicted to be dominant in well defined kinematic regions such as largex and/or largez. The provide angular distributions typical of longitudinally polarized virtual photons andW's, including sin² θ terms in meson induced Drell-Yan processes and ine ⁺ e ^?→πX, as well as unusual (1?y) terms in deep-inelastic scattering. Calculations are also presented of the quark structure functions of the pionq _π(x, Q ²) and for the quark to pion fragmentation functionD _π(z, Q ²). Predictions are made for the azimuthal angle dependence of the cross sections for \(\pi N \to \mu {\text{ }}\bar \mu X\) andlN→l′πX.     

Quark combinatorics and meson-production ratios in hadronic Z 0 decays

A vast body of experimental data accumulated in the past few years in hadronic Z ⁰ decays allows one to check quark-combinatorics relations for a new type of processes-namely, quark jets in the decays Z ⁰ → $q\bar q$ → hadrons. In this paper, we review quark-combinatorics rules for the yields of vector and pseudoscalar mesons, V/P, in the central and fragmentation regions of hadronic Z ⁰ decays. It is emphasized that, in the central region, a direct verification of quark-combinatorics rules is rather problematic because of a considerable background associated with the decay of highly excited resonances; however, such a verification is possible in the fragmentation region, at x _hadron～0.5–1, where the contribution of resonance decays is suppressed owing to a fast decrease of the spectra with increasing x _hadron. It is shown that, in the fragmentation region, experimental data on ρ⁰/π⁰ and p/π⁺ are in reasonable agreement with the predictions of quark combinatorics. The ratios of the heavy-meson yields, B*/B and D*/D, are also discussed: the data demonstrate good agreement with the quark combinatorial results. We analyze the structure of the suppression parameters for strange-and heavy-quark production in soft processes and estimate their orders of magnitude in multiperipheral processes; the ratio K ^±/π^± at x _hadron～0.5–0.8 and the production probabilities for $c\bar c$ and $b\bar b$ mesons are in good agreement with the estimates.     

An analysis of Cabibbo-favored two-body decays of charmed mesons withη orη′ in the final state

We have carried out a study of Cabbibbo-favored two-body decays ofD ⁰ andD _s ⁺ involving η and η′ in the final state, $D^0 \to (\eta ,\eta ')\bar K^0 , D^0 \to (\eta ,\eta ')\bar K*^0 $ andD _s ⁺ →(η,η′)π ⁺,D _s ⁺ →(η,η′)ρ ⁺. We have introduced an annihilation term wherever admissible, and investigated its size if it were to bridge the gap between theory and experiment in each case. We have also related the semileptonic rates forD _s ⁺ →(η,η′)e ⁺ v to those of the hadronic rates forD _s ⁺ →(η,η′)π ⁺ and unveiled a puzzle. We offer a possible solution.     

Limits on the production of large transverse momentum direct photons deduced from the measurement of low-mass electron pairs

The hadronic production of electron pairs with masses between 200 and 500 MeV and large transverse momentum has been measured at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR). The expected relation between low-mass electron pairs and real photons is used to determine the direct hadronic production of photons. Contrary to indications from some previous experiments, the observed spectrum is consistent with expectations from the decay of known mesons, and leads to a value for the ratio of direct photons to π⁰ of γ/π⁰ = (0.55 ± 0.92)% for 2 < p_T < 3 GeV and 〈√s〉 = 55 GeV.