Resonance production in. pi. /sup -/p interactions at 100 GeV/c. Technical report No. 77-039

Abstract

A bubble chamber-wide-gap optical spark chamber experiment has been performed in order to make use of precision momentum measurements (delta p/p less than 0.25) in studying the ..pi../sup -/p interaction at 100 GeV/c. These measurements were used to study phenomenological characteristics of and resonance production in the ..pi../sup -/p interaction. Peyrou plots and single particle inclusive distributions in rapidity, Feynman x, and transverse momentum for ..pi../sup +/, ..pi../sup -/, and p production were used to point out the incident particle and leading proton effects. Factorization of the differential cross section was tested, indicating a slight preference for the variables (rapidity, transverse momentum). Two-particle rapidity correlations as a function of rapidity gap for like and unlike charge pion pairs were investigated inclusively, where short range correlation behavior was noted, and semi-inclusively, where a suggestion that clusters may consist of one positive particle and one negative particle was seen. A search for the production of known resonances was conducted in the following effective mass distributions: (p..pi../sup + -/), (..pi../sup +/..pi../sup -/), (..pi../sup +/..pi../sup -/..pi../sup + -/), (..pi../sup +/..pi../sup -/..pi../sup +/..pi../sup -/), (K/sup + -/..pi../sup - +/), and (K/sup +/K/sup -/). The ..delta../sup + +/ (1236) was seen in the (p..pi../sup +/) channel, and substantial rho/sup 0/ (770) was seen in the (..pi../sup +/..pi../sup -/) spectrum. Differential cross sections in center of mass rapidity and transverse momentum for the rho/sup 0/ indicated the dominance of production in the central and forward rapidity regions and production comparable to that for pions at p/sup 2//sub T/ greater than 0.5 (GeV/c)/sup 2/. No other resonances were observed.