Study of the production mechanism of the eta meson in proton-proton collisions by means of analysing power measurements

The analysing power measurements for the p(pol)p -> pp eta reaction studied in this dissertation are used in the determination of the reaction mechanism of the eta meson production in nucleon-nucleon collisions. Measurements have been performed in the close-to-threshold energy region at beam momenta of p(beam)=2.010 and 2.085 GeV/c, corresponding to the excess energies of Q = 10 and 36 MeV, respectively. The experiments were realised by means of a cooler synchrotron and storage ring COSY along with a cluster jet target. For registration of the reaction products the COSY-11 facility has been used. The identification of the eta meson has been performed with the missing mass method. The results for the angular dependence of the analysing power combined with the hitherto determined isospin dependence of the total cross section for the $\eta$ meson production in the nucleon-nucleon collisions, reveal a statistically significant indication that the excitation of the nucleon to the S_{11} resonance, the process which intermediates the production of the eta meson, is predominantly due to the exchange of a pi meson between the colliding nucleons. The determined values of the analysing power at both excess energies are consistent with zero implying that the eta meson is produced predominantly in the s-wave at both excess energies.Comment: 114 pages, PhD Dissertation (Advisor: Pawel Moskal

Hadronic interaction of eta and eta-prime mesons with nucleons

Due to their short life-time, flavour-neutral mesons cannot be utilized as free secondary beams or targets, and therefore a study of their interaction with nucleons is not possible via direct scattering experiments. This interaction is, however, accessible via its influence on the energy dependence - and on the phase space distributions of the cross sections for reactions in which these mesons are produced. In case of the p p --> p p eta reaction the experimentally determined distributions of the differential cross sections close to the production threshold cannot be described by taking into account the S-wave proton-proton and proton-eta interaction only. Here we show that the angular distributions determined at the COSY-11 facility reveal some evidence for P-wave admixture in the proton-proton subsystem already at an excess energy as low as Q = 15.5 MeV. We also present that one can estimate the relative strength of the eta-nucleon and eta-prime-nucleon interactions by comparison of the eta and eta-prime production yield.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Talk given at 16th International Conference on Particles and Nuclei (PANIC 02), Osaka, Japan, 30 Sep - 4 Oct 200

Kaon Production and Interaction

Exclusive data on both the elementary kaon and antikaon production channels have been taken at the cooler synchrotron COSY in proton-proton scattering. In the kaon--hyperon production an enhancement by one order of magnitude of the Lambda/Sigma0 ratio has been observed at excess energies below Q=13 MeV compared to data at higher excess energies (Q>300 MeV). New results obtained at the COSY-11 facility explore the transition region between the regime of this low-energy Sigma0 suppression and excess energies of 60 MeV. A comparison of the energy dependence of the Lambda and Sigma0 total cross sections exhibits distinct qualitative differences between both hyperon production channels. Studies of kaon-antikaon production have been motivated especially by the ongoing discussion about the nature of the scalar resonances f0(980) and a0(980) coupling to the K anti-K channel. For the reaction pp->ppK+K- a first total cross section value is reported at an excess energy of Q=17 MeV, i.e. below the phi threshold. Calculations obtained within an OBE model indicate that the energy dependence of the available total cross section data close to threshold is rather difficult to reconcile with the assumption of a phase-space behaviour modified predominantly by the proton-proton final state interaction.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Presented at Meson 2002: 7th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction, Cracow, Poland, 24-28 May 200

Analysing power A(y) in the reaction p(pol.)p --> pp eta near threshold

A first measurement of the analysing power in the reaction p(pol)p --> pp eta near the production threshold has been performed at the internal facility COSY-11 at the COoler SYnchrotron COSY.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Presented at Meson 2002: 7th International Workshop on Production, Properties and Interaction of Mesons, Cracow, Poland, 24-28 May 200

Associated strangeness production in pp collisions near threshold

Motivated by the ongoing discussion concerning the nature of the scalar resonances f0(980) and a0(980), the COSY-11 collaboration has taken exclusive data on the pp->ppK+K- reaction near the production threshold. A first total cross section sigma=(1.80+-0.27+0.28-0.35)nb for the excess energy Q=17 MeV has been determined. In contrary to the eta, omega and eta' single meson production studies which clearly show the strong pp final state interaction (FSI), the cross section values obtained at COSY-11 and DISTO can be both described by a fit with a four-body phase space including the proton-proton final state interaction as well as with one-meson exchange calculations neglecting FSI effects. Therefore, one might think about a compensation of the strong pp interaction through a pK- FSI effect or an additional degree of freedom caused by the four-body final state. In the latter case, strong FSI effects can be expected at Q-values very close to the K+K- production threshold. Such a motivation triggered -- in combination with the investigation of the kaon-Antikaon interaction being relevant to the structure of the f0(980) -- further measurements at the excess energies Q=10 and Q=28 MeV at COSY-11.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Presented at X. International Conference On Hadron Spectroscopy (Hadron 2003), Aschaffenburg, Germany, 31 Aug - 6 Sep 200

Experimental study of the eta-meson interaction with two-nucleons

By means of the COSY-11 detection system, using a stochastically cooled proton beam of the cooler synchrotron COSY and a hydrogen cluster target, we have performed a high statistics measurement of the pp --> pp eta reaction at an excess energy of Q = 15.5 MeV. The experiment was based on the four-momentum determination of both outgoing protons. This permits to identify pp --> pp eta events and to derive the complete kinematical information of the eta-p-p-system allowing for subsequent investigations of the eta-p interaction. The observed spectrum of the invariant mass of the proton-proton system deviates strongly from the phase-space distribution revealing the influence of the final-state-interaction among the outgoing particles or nontrivial features of the primary production mechanism.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Talk presented at Meson 2002, 7th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction, Cracow, Poland, 24-28 May 200

General thoughts to the Kaon pair production in the threshold region

Simple--minded thoughts about the cross sections for the reactions pp-->ppK+K- and pp-->ppK0K0 are presented, which certainly do not account for the complex coupled channel problem but rather provide some ideas into the mutual reaction dynamics.Comment: Talk given at 9th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction, Cracow, Poland, 9-13 June 2006. 3 pages, 2 figure