Search for narrow baryons in π−p total cross section between 2 and 14 GeV/c

A high-statistics search for resonances in the π^?p total cross section has been carried out over the incident momentum region from 2 to 14 GeV/c. The measurements were performed with a transmission technique using multiwire proportional chambers in place of the conventional counter arrays. A microprocessor unit was used for the on-line analysis of the data, allowing a total of ≈ 50 000 events to be examined in a 300 ms burst. The search aimed at detecting the possible formation in π^?p collisions of narrow non-strange baryon resonances. The momentum region was uniformly scanned with a total of ≈4500 mmeasurements in fixed fractional momentum steps of dP/P = 5 × 10^?4. The relative statistical precision of each measurement was dσ/σ = ±0.3%. Within these limits no significant structure was detected.