A first measurement of the analysing power in the reaction p(pol)p --> pp eta near the production threshold has been performed at the internal facility COSY-11 at the COoler SYnchrotron COSY.
Measurements of the eta meson production with a polarised proton beam in the reaction p(pol) p --> p p eta have been carried out at an excess energy of Q = 40 MeV. The dependence of the analysing power A_y on the polar angle theta^*_q of the eta meson in the center of mass system (CMS) has been studied. The data indicate the possibility of an influence of p- and d-waves to the close to threshold eta production.
The analyzing power A_y for the p(pol)p --> pp eta reaction has been determined at the beam momentum p_{beam}=2010 MeV/c, corresponding to the excess energy Q=10 MeV. In the paper the method of the data analysis is briefly presented.
The total cross section of the p d -> p d eta reaction has been measured at two energies near threshold by detecting the final proton and deuteron in a magneti spectrometer. The values are somewhat larger than expected on the basis of two simple theoretical estimates.
Exclusive measurements of the production of eta mesons in the p+p->p+p+eta reaction have been carried out at excess energies of 16 and 37 MeV above threshold. The deviations from phase space are dominated by the proton-proton final state interaction and this influences particularly the energy distribution of the eta meson. However, evidence is also presented at the higher energy for the existence of an anisotropy in the angular distributions of the eta meson and also of the final proton-proton pair, probably to be associated with D-waves in this system interfering with the dominant S-wave term. The sign of the eta angular anisotropy suggests that rho-exchange is important for this reaction.
Polarisation observables constitute a powerful tool for establishing the production mechanism of the eta meson and for infering the presence of higher partial waves in the final system. Measurements of the proton analysing power for the p(pol)p-->ppeta reaction have been performed by the COSY-11 group at three different excess energies: Q=10, 37 and 40 MeV. Data at Q=40 MeV indicate that the eta meson is probably produced in partial waves higher than s wave.