No Arabic abstract
Exclusive data on the reactions pp -> ppK+K- and pp -> pK+ Lambda/Sigma0 have been taken at the cooler synchrotron COSY close to threshold. At equal excess energies, an enhancement of the Lambda/Sigma0 ratio by one order of magnitude has been observed compared to data at higher excess energies. New results obtained at the COSY-11 facility explore the transition region between this low-energy Sigma0 suppression and excess energies of 60 MeV. A first total cross section for elementary antikaon production below the phi threshold has been determined, two orders of magnitude smaller compared to kaon production at the same excess energy.
Taking advantage of the high acceptance and axial symmetry of the WASA-at-COSY detector, and the high degree of the polarized proton beam of COSY, the reaction pp{to} pp{eta} has been measured close to threshold to explore the analyzing power Ay. The angular distribution of Ay is determined with the precision improved by more than one order of magnitude with respect to previous results allowing a first accurate comparison with theoretical predictions. The determined analyzing power is consistent with zero for an excess energy of Q = 15 MeV signaling s wave production with no evidence for higher partial waves. At Q = 72 MeV the data reveals strong interference of P s and P p partial waves and cancellation of (P p) and Ss*Sd contributions. These results rule out the presently available theoretical predictions for the production mechanism of the {eta} meson.
The $pp to pp eta^{prime}$ (958) reaction has been measured at COSY using the internal beam and the COSY-11 facility. The total cross sections at the four different excess energies mbox{$ Q = ~1.5 ~MeV, ~1.7 ~MeV, ~2.9 ~MeV,$ and $ ~4.1 MeV$} have been evaluated to be mbox{$ sigma = 2.5 pm 0.5~nb$, $~~~ 2.9 pm 1.1~nb$, $~~~ 12.7 pm 3.2~nb$, ~ and $~~~ 25.2 pm 3.6 ~nb $}, respectively. In this region of excess energy the $eta^{prime}$ (958) cross sections are much lower compared to those of the $pi ^0$ and $eta$ production.
The near threshold total cross section and angular distributions of K+K- pair production via the reaction pp --> ppK+K- have been studied at an excess energy of Q = 17 MeV using the COSY-11 facility at the cooler synchrotron COSY. The obtained cross section as well as an upper limit at an excess energy of Q = 3 MeV represent the first measurements on the K+K- production in the region of small excess energies where production via the channel pp --> pp Phi --> ppK+K- is energetically forbidden. The possible influence of a resonant production via intermediate scalar states f0(980) and a0(980) is discussed.
Threshold measurements of the associated strangeness production reactions pp --> p K(+) Lambda and pp --> p K(+) Sigma(0) are presented. Although slight differences in the shapes of the excitation functions are observed, the most remarkable feature of the data is that at the same excess energy the total cross section for the Sigma(0) production appears to be about a factor of 28 smaller than the one for the Lambda particle. It is concluded that strong Sigma(0)-p final state interactions, and in particular the Sigma-N --> Lambda-p conversion reaction, are the likely cause of the depletion for the yield in the Sigma signal. This hypothesis is in line with other experimental evidence in the literature.
The production of $Sigma^{0}$ baryons in the nuclear reaction p (3.5 GeV) + Nb (corresponding to $sqrt{s_{NN}}=3.18$ GeV) is studied with the detector set-up HADES at GSI, Darmstadt. $Sigma^{0}$s were identified via the decay $Sigma^{0} rightarrow Lambda gamma$ with subsequent decays $Lambda rightarrow p pi^{-}$ in coincidence with a $e^{+}e^{-}$ pair from either external ($gamma rightarrow e^{+} e^{-}$) or internal (Dalitz decay $gamma^{*}rightarrow e^{+} e^{-}$) gamma