Abstract
A cloud chamber investigation of the nuclear interactions of 125-Mev negative pi mesons has been carried out. Carbon and lead were employed as the scattering material. The experimental arrangement was designed to observe the charge-exchange process: High-energy photons, probably attributable to charge exchange, are found to arise from nuclear interaction, with a small but finite cross section. Total and differential cross section for elastic and inelastic scattering, as well as total nuclear reaction cross sections, are presented. A square well (optical model) analysis fits the data with a potential whose real part is attractive and 30 Mev deep, and whose imaginary part corresponds to a mean free path in nuclear matter of 3× cm. The optical model parameters are found to be energy dependent, the well depth increasing and the mean free path decreasing as the energy is raised.
- Received 11 January 1954
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.94.689
©1954 American Physical Society