16 November 1995

PHYSICS LETTERS B

ELSEVIER Physics Letters B 363 (1995) 46-50

Total cross section measurement for the three double pion

photoproduction channels on the proton
A. Braghieriavb, L.Y. Murphy b*c,l, J. Ahrense, G. Audit b, N. d’Hose b, V. Isbert b,
S. Kerhoas b, M. Mac Cormick b, P. Pedroni a,2, T. Pinelli avd,G. Tamas b, A. Zabrodin b,f
a INFN-S&one di Pavia, via Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia. Italy
b CEA DAPNIA-SPhN, C.E. Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France
’ Physics Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Troy, NY 12180, USA
* Dipartimento di Fisica Nucleare e Teorica, Universitci degli Studi di Pavia, via Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy
’ Institutftir Kerphysik, Universitiit Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany
f INR, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Received 3 October 1994; revised manuscript received 14 September 1995

Editor: J.P. Schiffer

Abstract
The total cross sections for the three yp + Nrr reactions have been measured for photon energies from 400 to 800 MeV.
The YP + p&‘# and yp -+ nr+n-O cross sections have never been measured before while the yp + p&p- results are
much improved compared to earlier data. These measurements were performed with the large acceptance hadronic detector
DAPHNE, at the tagged photon beam facility of the MAMI microtron in Mainz.

Keywords: Nuclear reaction yp -+ Nrr?r; E, from 400 to 800 MeV; Measured rtOt

1. Introduction
Of the three possible double pion photoproduction
channels on hydrogen, only one, yp + p&r-, has,
to date, been measured with any accuracy [ 1,2]. Ear-
lier experiments were for the most part performed with
untagged bremsstrahlung photons incident on bubble
chambers. In these instances, the PIT+~~- channel was
identified by the detection of at least two charged par-
ticles in coincidence. The two other possible reaction
channels, each involving two neutral particles in the
’ In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of PhD
in Physics.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: PEDRONI@PAVIA.INFN.IT.
final state, were thus not measurable using such tech-
niques.
Today, however, the use of large acceptance mul-
tiparticle detectors, in conjunction with the availabil-
ity of high intensity tagged photon beams produced at
high duty factor ( 100%) accelerators, allows a precise
study of these previously “unmeasurable” channels.
In this paper, we present measurements of
ptOt(prr+71.- 1, ctot ( n&g ) and ctot ( pd?ro >, from
400 up to 800 MeV. In this energy range, the cross
sections are sensitive not only to the A, but also to
higher baryon resonances. In particular, the p?r”?ro
channel is most interesting since the Born terms are
suppressed due to the fact that photons do not couple
with neutral pions. As a result, the contribution from
these resonances should be more clearly seen.

Elsevier Science B.V.

SSDI 0370-2693(95)0 I 189-7
 A. Braghieri et al. /Physics Letters B 363 (1995) 46-50
2. Experimental set-up
The experiment was performed with the large accep-
tance detector DAPHNE [3] installed on the tagged
photon beam line [ 41 operated by Glasgow University
at the continuous wave accelerator MAMI in Mainz
151.
2.1. The photon beam
The photon energy ranged from 350 up to 800 MeV
with an average resolution of 2 MeV. The total tagged
photon flux was on the order of lo6 y/s. The flux
was continuously monitored throughout the experi-
ment, such that the accuracy of the photon normaliza-
tion has been evaluated to better than 9~2%.
2.2. The DAPHNE detector
We used the detector DAPHNE as described in
Kef. [ 31. Its relevant characteristics are: (i) high pre-
cision measurements of the angles of emission of the
charged particles, (ii) good p/lr particle discrimina-
tion, (iii) good proton momentum resolution ( Ap/p =
?.5%- 10% for p = 300-900 MeVlc), (iv) modest ?ro
detection efficiency ( I 20%), (v) large solid angle
acceptance (polar acceptance: 22.5” < 0 2 158.5”
and full azimuthal acceptance 0’ < 4 5 3600), and
( vi) a large momentum acceptance (proton detection
threshold: pp = 280 MeV/c, and charged pion detec-
tion threshold: pr = 78 MeVlc).
Three weaknesses are, unfortunately, inherent to the
system. These are: (i) no ~+/n-- discrimination, (ii)
no momentum measurement for those charged pions
which do not stop in the detector, and (iii) no mea-
surement of the angle of emission for neutral pions.
3. Data analysis
There are five active channels in our energy range:
( a) yp--pro; (b) m+nr+; (c) yp+n& ?ro; (d)
yp--+p.n+ C; (e) y p --pro 7r”. Given the charac-
teristics of our detector, only channel (b) cannot be
uniquely identified, as the detection of a single charged
7 is not a sufficient condition to distinguish it from ei-
ther (c) or (d). In the majority of events, as discussed
in Ref. [ 61, this 7~escapes from the detector so that its
41
momentum cannot be directly measured. Kinematical
constraints, consequently, may not be applied.
3.1. The yp-p?To$, yp+n+?r0, and yp+pzO
channels
These channels, each with at least one ?ro in the fi-
nal state, are unambiguously signed by a triple coin-
cidence between a charged particle and the two pho-
tons resulting from the decay of the 9. The ?ro de-
tection efficiency as a function of photon energy, E,+I,
was evaluated using the GEANT code. All three reac-
tions channels were simulated with the complete set
of geometrical and electronic thresholds taken into ac-
count. When relevant, neutron detection efficiencies
were also included, as neutrons are sometimes capable
of simulating the signature associated with photons.
This effect increases the apparent m” detection effi-
ciency by a factor of 1.15 for reaction (c) . To achieve
these results, we have used the pd angular distribu-
tion found in Ref. [ 71 and have assumed a three-body
phase space distribution for the channels pr’?ro and
nn-+r’. The results from these calculations yield a
global efficiency of E,+ ( Ey ) ~20% for channels (a)
and (c), and ~,,o(E,) -38% for (e).
In the second stage of the analysis, n&?r0 events
are selected by p/r discrimination using the method
described in Ref. [6]. Of the remaining events, dis-
tinction between p$ and pd&-’ events is based on
the analysis of the missing mass spectrum yp-+p X.
The good proton energy resolution allows final states
containing one and two @ to be distinguished.
As an example, we show, in Fig. la, the missing
mass spectrum at E, = 747 MeV. The sharp peak, cor-
responding to the squared mass of the 9, is due to
the two body reaction (a). The curve is the result of a
simulation which takes into account the experimental
resolutions as well as the known angular distribution
associated with this reaction. The distribution found
at higher squared masses, corresponds clearly to the
three body process (e) . It has also been fitted with a
three-body phase space angular distribution. The con-
tributions from processes (a) and (e) are thus clearly
separated.
Protons from the reaction yp+p~ can also be de-
tected for EY 1 780 MeV, and for 8, < 24.5”. The
missing mass distribution, subject to these constraints,
is shown on Fig. lb where we see a well defined peak
 A. Braghieri et al. /Physics Letters B 363 (1995) 46-50

3 175 -
l H(xP~~)
s
$= 150 -
~ REF. (7)
n

60

40

20 25 -

0 0 L,“ll,“,l,“‘ll/‘lll,’
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 400 500 600 700 800

Missing Mass (GeV/c2)2

Fig. 1. Missing mass distribution for protons in coincidence with
a ?y”. The curves are the results of simulations for the processes
yp+pr” and yp-+p?~O@ (see text for details). (a) Top: for
E, = 747 MeV. (b) Bottom: for 15, > 780 MeV and forward
proton angles. The peak at the highest masses comes from the
reaction yp+pv.
associated with v production. These v’s are princi-
pally detected via their neutral decay modes and show
up initially in the pro coincidence spectrum. This con-
tamination, on the order of 1 ,ub at 785 MeV, is easily
eliminated by applying a cut at Mi = 0.28 (GeV/c*)*.
Fig. 2 shows the measured yield for the rp--+prr’
compared with data from Ref. [ 71 integrated over the
acceptance of the detector. The excellent agreement
between these results inspires confidence in our E,,Q
values as well as in our p/r discrimination.
3.2. The yp--+p~+~- channel
The measurement of this channel was the most
straightforward. It is separated from the others by
selecting events which contain two or three charged
particles in coincidence.
The only sizeable contamination comes from chan-
nels with ?r”‘s in the final state, if a r” disintegrates
into ye+e- or if a photon from its decay converts
into an e+e- pair prior to entering the wire cham-
bers. In such cases, the leptons can be mistaken for
charged r’s, giving rise to two or three charged par-
Fig. 2. Measured yield for the reaction rp--pro. The curve was
obtained by integrating the differential cross section in Ref. [7]
over the detector acceptance.
titles events. A simulation of these processes, using
GEANT, predicts a contamination level of 4% of the
total p?ro counting rate. This is in agreement with the
measured counting rate of two or three particles events
at 350 MeV. Knowing the p?ro. p&rn and n&?r0
cross sections this contamination is easily subtracted.
We also infer that the additional contamination to the
yp+p?~+r- cross section from pq photoproduction
is of the order of 2 ,ub at 800 MeV.
Finally, the kinematics of events where three
charged particles are detected in coincidence are
overdetermined. Yet, it was found that on the order
of 1% of such true events were still rejected by kine-
matical constraints. We surmise from this that, in
the present energy domain, the contamination due to
three pions events, which accidentally satisfy these
requirements, is, at most, on the order of l%, which
is negligible.
4. Evaluation of the total cross-section
The cross-sections measured in DAPHNE are
shown by the open circles in Figs. 3a, 3b, and 3c.
The results from the model developed by Murphy and
 A. Braghieri et af. / Physics Letters B 363 (1995146-50
100
a) y p + prt+7c-
60
‘1 u400 500 600 700
E, WV)
600
Fig. 3. Total cross sections for the three double pion photopro-
duction channels. In all panels, the cross sections measured in
DAPHNE are shown by open circles and the extrapolated ones
by full circles (only statistical errors are shown). The continuous
lines are the predictions of the Murphy and Laget model IS], in-
tegrated in the acceptance of the detector. In (a). the dashed one
is the prediction of the model in Ref. [ IO], over all phase-space.
In (b), the contribution of the PII decay into a pu, integrated
over DAPHNE (dotted line) acceptance, is shown.
Laget [8], integrated over the acceptance of the de-
tector are also plotted as dashed lines. The measured
cross sections are well reproduced for the p&r-
and the pa”7ro channels. The contribution from that
part of the cross-section unmeasurable with our de-
tector is estimated with this model. For the p&lr-
and the n7rf7ro channels, this extrapolation is on the
order of 20%. For the p7r”?ro channel, however, it is
about 50%, in accord with the fact that the proton
distribution is forward peaked. A difference in the
extrapolation of at most 10% is found, even for the
nr+rrO channel where the model fails to reproduce
the data, when a three-body phase space distribution
is assumed in lieu of the model. This difference gives
an estimate of the systematic error on the total cross
49
3 350
t l o&p 4adrons) Armstrong et al
0 Olin)
.E 300 . o(m) DAPHNE
z
; 250
ij
3
2 200
50
0 J
500 600 700 600
Fig. 4. The total double pion photoproduction cross section mea-
sured in the present experiment is compated with the total cross
section on the proton [ 91. The open circles also include the two
single-pion channels [ 71. No errors were taken for the latter.
section due to this extrapolation. It is on the order of
2% for the p~+m- and n&&’ channels, and 5% for
p7pn-O.The resulting extrapolated total cross sections
are shown in these figures by the full circles. The
other contributions to the overall systematic experi-
mental error come from p/?r discrimination (2%),
photon flux evaluation (2%), d’ efficiency (4%))
MWPC’s efficiency ( 1%) and target density (0.5%).
Finally, we show in Fig. 4 the two pion photopro-
duction cross section as well as the total cross sec-
tion obtained by adding to it single pion photopro-
duction data. The cross sections taken for processes
w-+n& and rp-_~~ are obtained by integrating the
differential cross sections of Ref. [ 7 1. The sum of all
these channels is in good agreement with the the total
hadronic cross section on the proton obtained by Arm-
strong et al. [9] except at high energies, where the
contribution of the ‘yp+pq channel must be taken into
account. This gives us confidence that the systematic
errors are not underestimated.
so A. Braghieri et al. /Physics Letters B 363 (1995) 46-50

Table 1 Table 2
Total cross section for ~p+prr+.rr- Total cross section for yp+nrr+rru and rp-+-pArO

E,(MeV) o-(pn+r-) (pb) &0kv) ~(p~“~o) (/lb)

395 i 6 2.9 * 0.4 * 0.3 464 I I5 2.2 i 0.1 i 0.1 2.9 f

0.3 i 0.3
407 f 6 3.2 f 0.3 T!z 0.3 497 i 18 5.7 * 0.2 f 0.3 4.7 f
0.3 f 0.4
419 zt 6 3.9 i 0.3 f 0.3 533 * 18 11.9 zt 0.4 f 0.7 5.8 f
0.4 f 0.5
431 ~t6 4.6 f 0.3 f 0.3 566 f IS 17.8 f 0.5 f I.0 7.7 f
0.4 f 0.6
443 zt 6 6.2 & 0.3 & 0.4 596 f 15 22.8 f 0.6 f 1.2 7.2 f
0.4 f 0.5
454 f 5 7.0 It 0.3 zt 0.4 626 & 15 27.1 f 0.7 f 1.4 8.6 f
0.4 f 0.6
464 zt 5 9.0 It 0.3 f 0.5 653 & 12 33.6 zt 0.8 f 1.7 9.5 f
0.4 f 0.7
474 Yt 5 Il.8 & 0.4 IIZ 0.6 680 f 15 42.9 f 0.9 f 2.1 10.5 f
0.5 f 0.7
485 i 6 15.0 f 0.4 f 0.7 707 f 12 50.3 f 1.0 f 2.5 11.8 f
0.5 f 0.8
491 1 6 20.4 i 0.5 i I.0 731 i 12 52.9 i 1.0 I 2.6 Ii.8 i 0.5 zk 0.8
509 f 6 25.9 IIC0.6 f 1.2 75s f 12 54.1 f 1.0 f 2.6 10.2 f 0.5 f 0.7
521 z?z 6 30.0 & 0.6 do 1.3 779 f 12 46.5 f 1.0 zt 2.3 9.8 f 0.6 f 0.7
533 zt 6 3.5.3 zt 0.7 f I.5
545 zt 6 41.0% 0.7 It 1.7
556 It 5 45.4 zt 0.8 zt 1.8 gtot (r&d) and atot(p?ro?ro) which tend to rise
566 + 5 51.4 + 0.8 f 2.0 smoothly up to about 720 MeV.
576 f 5 56.2 f 0.9 zt 2.2
In these figures, our experimental results are also
S86 * 5 59,s * 0.9 * 23
596 f 5 59.4 i 0.9 i 2.2 compared with the Murphy and Laget model (con-
606 zt 5 64.8 f I.0 + 2.4 tinuous lines), as well as, where applicable, with the
616 It 5 68.4 zt I.0 rt 2.6 Gomez Tejedor and Oset model [ IO] (Fig. 3a, dashed
626 f 5 69.2 f I.0 zt 2.5 line). Though a detailed discussion of the first model
636 It 5 69.2 I+ I.0 zt 2.4
is given elsewhere [ 81, we nevertheless show here, in
645 & 4 72.0 & 1.1 f 2.6
653 zt 4 73.2 zt 1.2 IIZ 2.6 Fig. 3b by the dotted curve, that the main contribution
661 f 4 74.8 zt I.1 zk 2.7 to the p7r”?ro cross-section is due to the decay of the
670 f 5 75.4 f 1.1 f 2.7 Pi 1 resonance into a q system. The CTis the parame-
f-m + 5 75.3 It 1.2 f 2.7 terization of two pions in a relative isospin 0 state. In
690 f 5 74.3 dz I.1 zk 2.6
this model there is clear evidence that the Prr can be
699 & 4 76.7 & 1.2 I+I2.8
707 * 4 75.4 It 1.2 f 2.7 excited by real photons; however a partial wave anal-
715 f 4 75.0 f 1.2 zk 2.6 ysis is needed to unambiguously confirm this effect.
723 f 4 7.5.7 zt 1.3 rt 2.7
731 * 4 75.1 It 1.2 z!z 2.7
739 + 4 75.4 & I.2 IIZ 2.6 References
747 f 4 74.3 zt 1.2 It 2.6
755 + 4 13.5 zt 1.2 + 2.6 [i] ABBHHM Collaboration, Phys. Rev. 175 ( 1968) 1669.
763 f 4 72.9 f 1.2 & 2.6
[ 21 G. Gialanella et al., Nuovo Cimento A 63 (1969) 892.
771 *4 72.8 zt 1.2 f 2.6 [ 31 G. Audit et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 301 (1991) 473.
779 f 4 70.5 f 1.3 * 2.5
[ 41 I. Anthony et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 301 ( 1991) 230.
787 & 4 73.8 zt 1.6 zt 2.6 [5] H. Herminghaus et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 138
(1976) I;
H. Herminghaus et al., Proc. 1990 Linear Accelerator Conf.
5. Results and comments (Albuquerque, NM, 1990), preprint LA-12004-C.
[6] A. Braghieri et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 343
(1994) 623.
The total cross section for the three double pion [ 71 Landolt-Bornstein, Photoproduction of Elementary Particles,
photoproduction channels, along with their statistical Group 1, Vol. 8, ed. H. Schopper (Springer, Berlin, 1973).
and systematic errors, are listed in Tables 1 and 2. [ 81 L.Y. Murphy and J.M. Laget, Preprint CEA/DAPNIA/SPhN
In complete agreement with previously pub- 95-42 and submitted to Phys. Lett.
191 T.A. Armstrong et al., Phys. Rev. D 5 (1972) 1640.
lished data, but with greatly improved precision,
[lo] J.A. Gomez Tejedor and E. Oset, Nucl. Phys. A 571 ( 1994)
otot(prr’rr-) exhibits a rapid rise from 400 to 667.
600 MeV, and then saturates. This is in contrast to