Hard exclusive wide-angle processes

In this talk the handbag approach to hard exclusive wide-angle processes is reviewed and applications, as for instance two-photon annihilations into pairs of mesons, are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, using latex2e, invited talk presented at Meson 2012, Cracow 201

Experimental Studies of Few-nucleon Systems at Intermediate Energies

Systems composed of 3 nucleons are a subject of precise experimental studies for many years. At the first stage the investigations were mainly focused on elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering, slowly extending to systematic measurements of the deuteron breakup reaction. Intermediate energies, below the threshold for pion production, deserve special attention: it is the region where comparison with exact theoretical calculations is possible, while the sensitivity to various aspects of interaction, like subtle effects of the dynamics beyond the pairwise nucleon-nucleon force, is significant. Moreover, the Coulomb interaction and relativistic effects show their influence in the observables of the breakup reaction. All these effects vary with energy and appear with different strength in certain observables and phase space regions, what calls for systematic investigations of a possibly rich set of observables determined in a wide range of energies. The next step in complication of the system are studies of reactions involving 4 nucleons—more sensitive, as expected, to subtle dynamics beyond the pairwise interaction. A brief survey of recent and planned experiments in the 3- and 4-nucleon systems is given

Precision studies of few-nucleon system dynamics

Modern nucleon-nucleon interaction models can be probed quantitatively in the three-nucleon (3N) environment by comparing predictions based on rigorous solutions of the Faddeev equations with the measured observables. Proper description of the experimental data can be achieved only if the models are supplemented with additional dynamical ingredients: subtle traces of suppressed degrees of freedom, effectively introduced by means of genuine three-nucleon forces and effects of the Coulomb force. As an example of precision studies of 3N system dynamics, new generation measurements of the 1H(d→,pp) n breakup reaction at 130 MeV are considered. Large sets of high accuracy, exclusive cross-section and analyzing power data acquired in these projects contribute significantly to constrain the physical assumptions underlying the theoretical interaction models. Comparisons of the cross-section data with the predictions using nuclear interactions generated in various ways, allowed to establish importance of including both, the 3N and the Coulomb forces to strongly improve description of the whole data set. Discrepancies observed in reproducing the analyzing power data hint at still persisting incompleteness of modeling the 3N system interaction dynamics

Exclusive meson pair production in proton-proton collisions

We present a study of the exclusive production of meson pairs in the four-body $pp \to pp \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$, $pp K^{+}K^{-}$ reactions at high energies which constitute an irreducible background to resonance states (e.g. $\phi$, $f_{2}(1270)$, $f_{0}(1500)$, $f_{2}'(1525)$, $\chi_{c0}$). We consider central diffractive contribution mediated by Pomeron and Reggeon exchanges and new diffractive mechanism of emission of pions/kaons from the proton lines. We include absorption effects due to proton-proton interaction and pion/kaon rescattering. Predictions for the total cross section and differential distributions in pion/kaon rapidity and transverse momentum as well as two-pion/kaon invariant mass are presented for the RHIC, Tevatron and LHC colliders. Finally we consider a measurement of exclusive production of a scalar $\chi_{c0}$ meson via $\chi_{c0} \to \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$, $K^{+} K^{-}$ decay.Comment: 4 pp., 4 figures, talk presented by PL at MESON2012 - 12th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction, Krakow, Poland, 31 May - 5 June 201

Exclusive production of π+π−\pi^+\pi^- and π0π0\pi^0\pi^0 pairs in photon-photon and in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions

The $\gamma\gamma\to\pi\pi$ reactions are discussed. To describe those processes, we include dipion continuum, resonances, high-energy pion-pion rescatterings, $\rho$ meson exchange and pQCD Brodsky-Lepage mechanisms. The cross section for the production of pion pairs in photon-photon collisions in peripheral heavy ion collisions is calculated with the help of Equivalent Photon Approximaption (EPA) in the impact parameter space. We show predictions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=3.5$ TeV which could be measured e.g. by the ALICE collaboration at the LHC.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, talk by M. Klusek-Gawenda at MESON2012, 31 May - 5 June 2012, Krakow, Polan

A Dispersive Treatment of Kℓ4K_{\ell4} Decays

$K_{\ell4}$ are for several reasons an especially interesting decay channel of $K$ mesons: $K_{\ell4}$ decays allow an accurate measurement of a combination of $S$-wave $\pi\pi$ scattering lengths, one form factor of the decay is connected to the chiral anomaly and the decay is the best source for the determination of some low energy constants of ChPT. We present a dispersive approach to $K_{\ell4}$ decays, which takes rescattering effects fully into account. Some fits to NA48/2 and E865 measurements and results of the matching to ChPT are shown.Comment: 4 pages, talk given by PS at MESON2012 - 12th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction, Krak\'ow, Poland, 31 May - 5 June 201

Open charm meson production at LHC

We discuss charm production at the LHC. The production of single $c \bar c$ pairs is calculated in the $k_t$-factorization approach. We use Kimber-Martin-Ryskin unintegrated gluon distributions in the proton. The hadronization is included with the help of Peterson fragmentation functions. Transverse momentum and pseudorapidity distributions of charmed mesons are presented and compared to recent results of the ALICE, LHCb and ATLAS collaborations. Furthermore we discuss production of two pairs of $c \bar c$ within a simple formalism of double-parton scattering (DPS). Surprisingly large cross sections, comparable to single-parton scattering (SPS), are predicted for LHC energies. We discuss perspectives how to identify the double scattering contribution. We predict much larger cross section for large rapidity distance between charm quarks from different hard parton scatterings compared to single scattering.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, talk given by R. Maciula at the MESON2012 - 12th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction, 31 May - 5 June 2012, Krakow, Polan

Strangeness production in antiproton-nucleus annihilation

The results of the microscopic transport calculations of $\bar p$-nucleus interactions within a GiBUU model are presented. The dominating mechanism of hyperon production is the strangeness exchange processes $\bar K N \to Y \pi$ and $\bar K N \to \Xi K$. The calculated rapidity spectra of $\Xi$ hyperons are significantly shifted to forward rapidities with respect to the spectra of $S=-1$ hyperons. We argue that this shift should be a sensitive test for the possible exotic mechanisms of $\bar p$-nucleus annihilation. The production of the double $\Lambda$-hypernuclei by $\Xi^-$ interaction with a secondary target is calculated.Comment: Proceedings of the 12th Int. Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction (MESON-2012), Cracow, 31.05-05.06.201

Experimental studies of nuclear interactions in few-nucleon systems

This article belongs to the Topical Collection "The 23rd European Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics". This work was partially supported by Polish National Science Center from Grant DEC-2012/05/B/ST2/02556 and by the European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme through IA-ENSAR (contract no. RII3-CT-2010-262010).Systems of three nucleons (3N) can be treated as a testing ground for modern approaches to describe nuclear interactions. At intermediate energies, observables for 3N systems are sensitive to subtle effects of the dynamics beyond the pairwise nucleon–nucleon force, so-called 3N-force (3NF). For years the search for 3NF has been motivating precise measurements of observables of elastic nucleon–deuteron scattering and for the deuteron breakup reaction. Breakup of a deuteron in collision with a proton leads to the final state of three free nucleons, with variety of possible kinematic configurations, revealing locally enhanced sensitivity to particular aspects of the interaction dynamics, like 3NF, Coulomb force between protons, or relativistic effects. This feature makes the breakup reaction a very versatile tool for validation of the theoretical description. Reactions involving four nucleons pose immense challenges with regard to exact theoretical calculations for such systems. Nonetheless, they attract attention due to expected enhanced sensitivity to certain aspects of the nuclear dynamics, manifesting themselves in various channels and configurations. The most important results of recent experimental studies of 3N and 4N systems at intermediate energies are discussed. A brief survey of the ongoing projects is given.NCN, European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme through IA-ENSA