On the behavior of micro-spheres in a hydrogen pellet target

A pellet target produces micro-spheres of different materials, which are used as an internal target for nuclear and particle physics studies. We will describe the pellet hydrogen behavior by means of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics. In particular one aim is to theoretically understand the cooling effect in order to find an effective method to optimize the working conditions of a pellet target. During the droplet formation the evaporative cooling is best described by a multi-droplet diffusion-controlled model, while in vacuum, the evaporation follows the (revised) Hertz-Knudsen formula. Experimental observations compared with calculations clearly indicated the presence of supercooling, the effect of which is discussed as well.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures (of which two are significantly compressed for easier download

New method of studying slow strange meson properties in nuclear matter

We suggest the new experimental method to explore the properties of slow strange mesons at normal nuclear matter density. We show that the $K^{+}$ and $K^{-}$ mesons with extremely small momenta relative to the surrounding medium rest frame can be produced in nucleus-nucleon collisions and their production cross sections are experimentally measurable. The experiments on study of the momentum dependence of meson-nuclear potentials are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Close-to-threshold Meson Production in Hadronic Interactions

Studies of meson production at threshold in the hadron--hadron interaction began in the fifties when sufficient energies of accelerated protons were available. A strong interdependence between developments in accelerator physics, detector performance and theoretical understanding led to a unique vivid field of physics. Early experiments performed with bubble chambers revealed already typical ingredients of threshold studies, which were superseded by more complete meson production investigations at the nucleon beam facilities TRIUMF, LAMPF, PSI, LEAR and SATURNE. Currently, with the advent of the new cooler rings as IUCF, CELSIUS and COSY the field is entering a new domain of precision and the next step of further progress. The analysis of this new data in the short range limit permits a more fundamental consideration and a quantitative comparison of the production processes for different mesons in the few--body final states. The interpretation of the data take advantage of the fact that production reactions close-to-threshold are characterized by only a few degrees of freedom between a well defined combination of initial and exit channels. Deviations from predictions of phase-space controlled one-meson-exchange models are indications of new and exciting physics. Precision data on differential cross sections, isospin and spin observables -- partly but by no means adequately available -- are presently turning up on the horizon. There is work for the next years and excitement of the physics expected. Here we try to give a brief and at the same time comprehensive overview of this field of hadronic threshold production studies.Comment: 100 pages, Review article to be published in Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. Vol. 49, issue 1 (2002