Deuteron and α-particle production in carbon and polyethylene by 26.6 GeV/c protons

Abstract

The production of deuterons in p-p collisions has been investigated by comparing the yield of deuterons from carbon and polyethylene targets exposed to the 26.6 GeV/c circulating proton beam of the CERN proton synchrotron. The deuterons were observed at 11.25° l.s. The yields from CH2 and C were normalized to the same number of interactions in carbon. These were monitored by counting the α-particles produced. The measurements were performed with deuterons having momenta of 1550, 1480 and 700MeV/c. There was no evidence of deuteron production from hydrogen within the accuracy of the experiment. An upper limit of 34 μb/(sr GeV/c) for the cross-section for producing deuterons in p-p collisions has been established with a 98% confidence level. This small value, although not in contradiction with the statistical calculations, strongly indicates the nuclear origin of the majority of the deuterons observed at our angle in high-energy collisions.