π+−pScattering at 250 MeV: Experiment and Analysis

Abstract

The differential cross section for elastic scattering of positive pions on protons has been measured at a nominal incident-meson kinetic energy of 250 MeV. The angular range covered in the center of mass by the 13 data was 14.9° to 160°. The fractional rms errors were typically 1.5%. A liquid-hydrogen target was bombarded by a beam of 2.5X10 6 mesons/sec. The scattered pions were detected by a counter telescope. Recoil protons were eliminated by means of a Cerenkov counter. A phase-shift analysis was performed combining the above-mentioned data with the recoil-proton polarization measurements taken recently with the help of a polarized proton target. Only one acceptable SPD Fermi-type phase-shift set was found. When F waves were included, a total of three possible phase-shift solutions emerged from the analysis. However, arguments based on the data could still be made to eliminate all but one phase-shift set. On the other hand, the remaining phase-shift set, similar in type to the SPD solution, suffers from the disadvantage of large rms errors assigned to its small phase shifts.