Backward axial vector meson production at intermediate energy

Abstract

We analyse the recent data on backward axial vector meson production which come predominantly from a large K −p bubble chamber experiment at 4.2 GeV/ c. In an attempt to understand the production mechanisms, we study the isospin and SU(3) structure of A 1, B, D(1285) and C(1280) production and compare this with the corresponding production of pseudoscalar, vector and tensor mesons in the backward direction. The isospin and SU(3) study shows that octet exchange is dominant but there are indications that other exchanges, lower-lying than the nucleon (N α) trajectory, must also be important. We show that a consistent description of backward resonance production is possible, but further experiments are required to confirm this.