Search for the 3He-eta bound state at COSY-11

We have measured excitation function for dp -> ppp_pi- reaction near the eta production threshold. We observe an enhancement of the counting rate above the threshold which can originate from the production of the eta meson in the reaction dp -> 3He eta and its subsequent absorption on neutron in the 3He nucleus leading to creation of the p_pi- pair.Comment: Presented at 10th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction (MESON 2008), Cracow, Poland, 6 - 10 June 2008, 4 pages, 4 figures,references adde

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

A comparison of the close-to-threshold total cross section for the eta prime production in pp --> pp eta prime and pn --> pn eta prime reactions constitutes a tool to investigate the eta prime meson structure and the reaction mechanism in the channels of isospin I=0 and I=1 and may provide insight into the flavour-singlet (perhaps also into gluonium) content of the eta prime meson. In this contribution we present preliminary results of measurement of the quasi-free production of the eta prime meson in the proton-neutron collisions conducted using the COSY-11 facility.Comment: Presented at 10th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction (MESON 2008), Cracow, Poland, 6 - 10 June 200

COSY-11: an experimental facility for studying meson production in free and quasi-free nucleon-nucleon collisions

The COSY-11 experimental setup is an internal facility installed at the COoler SYnchrotron COSY in Juelich. It allows to investigate meson production in free and quasi-free nucleon-nucleon collisions, eg. pp --> pp meson and pd --> p_sp np meson reactions. Drift chambers and scintillators permit to measure outgoing protons, separated in magnetic field of COSY-11 dipole. Neutrons are registered in the neutron modular detector installed downstream the beam. Recently, the experimental setup has been extended with spectator detector, deuteron drift chamber and polarization monitoring system, and since then meson production can be investigated also as a function of spin and isospin of colliding nucleons.Comment: Presented at LEAP05: International conference on Low Energy Antiproton Physics, Bonn - Juelich, Germany, May 16-22, 200

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

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

Eta and eta' mesons production at COSY-11

The low emittance and small momentum spread of the proton and deuteron beams of the Cooler Synchrotron COSY combined with the high mass resolution of the COSY-11 detection system permit to study the creation of mesons in the nucleon-nucleon interaction down to the fraction of MeV with respect to the kinematical threshold. At such small excess energies, the ejectiles possess low relative momenta and are predominantly produced with the relative angular momentum equal to zero. Taking advantage of these conditions we have performed investigations aiming to determine the mechanism of the production of eta and eta' mesons in the collision of hadrons as well as the hadronic interaction of these mesons with nucleons and nuclei. In this proceedings we address the ongoing studies of the spin and isospin dependence for the production of the eta and eta' mesons in free and quasi-free nucleon-nucleon collisions. New results on the spin observables for the vec(p)p --> pp eta reaction, combined with the previously determined total cross section isospin dependence, reveal a statistically significant indication that the excitation of the nucleon to the S11(1535) resonance, the process which intermediates the production of the eta meson in the nucleon-nucleon interactions, is predominantly due to the exchange of the pi meson between the colliding nucleons.Comment: Invited talk at MESON 2006: 9th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interactions, Cracow, Poland, 9-13 Jun 200