An exclusive measurement of the excitation function for the dd->3Heppi- reaction was performed at the Cooler Synchrotron COSY-Juelich with the WASA-at-COSY detection system. The data were taken during a slow acceleration of the beam from 2.185 GeV/c to 2.400 GeV/c crossing the kinematic threshold for the eta meson production in the dd->4He-eta reaction at 2.336 GeV/c. The corresponding excess energy with respect to the 4He-eta system varied from -51.4MeV to 22MeV. The integrated luminosity in the experiment was determined using the dd->3Hen reaction. The shape of the excitation function for the dd->3Heppi- was examined. No signal of the 4He-eta bound state was observed. An upper limit for the cross-section for the bound state formation and decay in the process dd->(4He-eta)bound->3Heppi- was determined on the 90% confidence level and it varies from 20nb to 27nb for the bound state width ranging from 5MeV to 35MeV, respectively.
The search for 4He-eta bound states was performed with the WASA-at-COSY facility via the measurement of the excitation function for the dd->3He n pi0 and dd->3He p pi- processes. The beam momentum was varied continuously between 2.127 GeV/c and 2.422 GeV/c, corresponding to the excess energy for the dd->4He eta reaction ranging from Q=-70 MeV to Q=30 MeV. The luminosity was determined based on the dd->3He n reaction and quasi-free proton-proton scattering via dd->pp n_spectator n_spectator reactions. The excitation functions determined independently for the measured reactions do not reveal a structure which could be interpreted as a narrow mesic nucleus. Therefore, the upper limits of the total cross sections for the bound state production and decay in dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He n pi0 and dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He p pi- processes were determined taking into account the isospin relation between both the channels considered. The results of the analysis depend on the assumptions of the N* momentum distribution in the anticipated mesic-4He. Assuming as in the previous works, that this is identical with the distribution of nucleons bound with 20 MeV in 4He, we determined that (for the mesic bound state width in the range from 5 MeV to 50 MeV) the upper limits at 90% confidence level are about 3 nb and about 6 nb for npi0 and ppi- channels, respectively. However, based on the recent theoretical findings of the N*(1535) momentum distribution in the N*-3He nucleus bound by 3.6 MeV, we find that the WASA-at-COSY detector acceptance decreases and hence the corresponding upper limits are 5 nb and 10 nb for npi0 and ppi- channels respectively.
The excitation function for the $pdrightarrow$ $d p pi^{0}$ reaction has been measured by WASA-at-COSY experiment with the aim of searching for $^{3}hspace{-0.03cm}mbox{He}$-$eta$ mesic nuclei. The measurement in the vicinity of $eta$ meson production was performed using a ramped proton beam. The data analysis and interpretation was carried out with the assumption that the $eta$-mesic Helium decays via the formation of an intermediate N$^{*}$(1535) resonance. No direct signal of the $eta$-mesic nucleus is observed in the excitation function. We determine a new improved upper limit for the total cross section for the bound state production and decay in the $pdrightarrow$ $(^{3}hspace{-0.03cm}mbox{He}$-$eta)_{bound} rightarrow$ $d p pi^{0}$ process. It varies between 13 nb to 24 nb for the bound state with width in the range $Gamma in (5,50)$ MeV.
We report on the experimental search for the bound state of an $eta$ meson and $^{3}hspace{-0.03cm}mbox{He}$ nucleus performed using the WASA-at-COSY detector setup. In order to search for the $eta$-mesic nucleus decay, the $pdrightarrow$ $^{3}hspace{-0.03cm}mbox{He} 2gamma$ and $pdrightarrow$ $^{3}hspace{-0.03cm}mbox{He} 6gamma$ channels have been analysed. These reactions manifest the direct decay of $eta$ meson bound in $^{3}hspace{-0.03cm}mbox{He}$ nucleus. This non-mesonic decay channel has been considered for the first time. When taking into account only statistical errors, the obtained excitation functions reveal a slight indication for a possible bound state signal corresponding to an $^3$He-$eta$ nucleus width $Gamma$ above 20 MeV and binding energy $B_s$ between 0 and 15 MeV. However, the determined cross sections are consistent with zero in the range of the systematic uncertainty. Therefore, as final result we estimate only the upper limit for the cross section of the $eta$-mesic $^{3}hspace{-0.03cm}mbox{He}$ nucleus formation followed by the $eta$ meson decay which varies between $2$ nb and $15$ nb depending on possible bound state parameters.
Charge symmetry breaking (CSB) observables are a suitable experimental tool to examine effects induced by quark masses on the nuclear level. Previous high precision data from TRIUMF and IUCF are currently used to develop a consistent description of CSB within the framework of chiral perturbation theory. In this work the experimental studies on the reaction dd->4He{pi}0 have been extended towards higher excess energies in order to provide information on the contribution of p-waves in the final state. For this, an exclusive measurement has been carried out at a beam momentum of p=1.2 GeV/c using the WASA-at-COSY facility. The total cross section amounts to sigma(tot) = (118 +- 18(stat) +- 13(sys) +- 8(ext)) pb and first data on the differential cross section are consistent with s-wave pion production.
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.