Analysis of πp reactions in the LPS framework at Eπ = 6–18 GeV

Abstract

The reactions γp → π + π −p and γp → π + π − π + π −p in the energy range Eγ = 6–18 GeV from the SLAC 2m streamer chamber are analyzed in terms of the longitudinal-phase-space (LPS) method. The 3-body LPS hexagonal plots show accumulations which reflect the dominant diffractive ϱ o production. The five-body final state is divided into sixteen LPS sectors. The partial cross sections, invariant-mass and momentum-transfer distributions of the four populous sectors are presented and discussed. Within this framework, we attempt to isolate and study the dissociations γ → π + π −, γ → π + π − π + π − and the double dissociations γ → π + π −, p → p π + π −. The proton dissociation p → p π + π − is found to be in approximate agreement with results from πp and pp reactions. Assuming that pomeron exchangedominates, this result is consistent with pomeron factorization.