Experimental proton-proton correlation function derived for the pp -> ppeta reaction

Based on the high statistics data from the pp -> ppX reaction measured by the COSY-11 collaboration [1] we have derived a two-proton correlation function for the production of the ppeta and pp+pions systems. The measured correlation function normalized to the value simulated for a point-like source was compared with a theoretical prediction in order to estimate the size of the reaction volume.Comment: Talk given at the Symposium on Meson Physics at COSY-11 and WASA-at-COSY Krakow, Poland, 17-22 June 200

Determination of the total width of the eta' meson

Taking advantage of both the low-emittance proton-beam of the Cooler Synchrotron COSY and the high momentum precision of the COSY-11 detector system, the mass distribution of the eta' meson was measured with a resolution of 0.33 MeV/c^2 (FWHM), improving the experimental mass resolution by almost an order of magnitude with respect to previous results. Based on the sample of more than 2300 reconstructed pp --> pp eta' events the total width of the eta' meson was determined to be 0.226 +- 0.017(stat.) +- 0.014(syst.) MeV/c^2.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Measurement of the invariant mass distributions for the pp -> ppeta' reaction at excess energy of Q = 16.4 MeV

The proton-proton and proton-eta' invariant mass distributions have been determined for the pp -> ppeta' reaction at an excess energy of Q = 16.4 MeV. The measurement was carried out using the COSY-11 detector setup and the proton beam of the cooler synchrotron COSY. The shapes of the determined invariant mass distributions are similar to those of the pp -> ppeta reaction and reveal an enhancement for large relative proton-proton momenta. This result, together with the fact that the proton-eta interaction is much stronger that the proton-eta' interaction, excludes the hypothesis that the observed enhancement is caused by the interaction between the proton and the meson

Upper limit of the total cross section for the pn --> pn eta' reaction

The upper limit of the total cross section for the pn --> pn eta' reaction has been determined near the kinematical threshold in the excess energy range from 0 to 24 MeV. The measurement was performed using the COSY-11 detector setup, a deuteron cluster target, and the proton beam of COSY with a momentum of 3.35 GeV/c. The energy dependence of the upper limit of the cross section was extracted exploiting the Fermi momenta of nucleons inside the deuteron. Comparison of the determined upper limit of the ratio R_eta' = sigma(pn --> pn eta') / sigma(pp --> pp eta') with the corresponding ratio for eta-meson production does not favor the dominance of the N*(1535) resonance in the production process of the eta' meson and suggests nonidentical production mechanisms for eta and eta' mesons

Determination of the eta'-proton scattering length in free space

Taking advantage of both the high mass resolution of the COSY-11 detector and the high energy resolution of the low-emittance proton-beam of the Cooler Synchrotron COSY we determine the excitation function for the pp --> pp eta' reaction close-to-threshold. Combining these data with previous results we extract the scattering length for the eta'-proton potential in free space to be Re(a_{p eta'}) = 0+-0.43 fm and Im(a_{p eta'}) = 0.37(+0.40)(-0.16) fm.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Isospin dependence of the eta' meson production in nucleon--nucleon collisions

According to the quark model, the masses of eta and eta' mesons should be almost equal. However, the empirical values of these masses differ by more than the factor of two. Similarly, though the almost the same quark-antiquark content, the total cross section for the creation of these mesons close to the kinematical thresholds in the pp --> ppX reaction differs significantly. Using the COSY-11 detection setup we intend to determine whether this difference will also be so significant in the case of the production of these mesons in the proton-neutron scattering. Additionally, the comparison of the pp --> pp eta' and pn --> pn eta' total cross sections will allow to learn about the production of the eta' meson in the channels of isospin I = 0 and I = 1 and to investigate aspects of the gluonium component of the eta' meson.Comment: Presented at LEAP05: International conference on Low Energy Antiproton Physics, Bonn - Juelich, Germany, May 16-22, 200