Experiments needed in Meson and Baryon Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper advocates for specific experiments involving polarized targets and meson-baryon interactions to complete the spectroscopy of baryons and light mesons, emphasizing the importance of polarization data and advanced detection methods.

Contribution

It proposes three or four key experiments using polarized targets and photon/electron interactions to enhance baryon and meson spectroscopy understanding.

Findings

Data on inelastic reactions with polarized targets are crucial.

Polarization measurements can distinguish meson states.

Diffractive dissociation and radiative return are promising methods.

Abstract

Three (or four) straightforward experiments would contribute greatly to completing the spectroscopy of baryons and light mesons. In the baryon sector, data are needed on inelastic reactions from a polarised target with pi and kaon beams up to 3 GeV/c. Similar data are needed in the light meson sector for pbar-p interactions in the momentum range 0.3 to 2 GeV/c. In both cases, valuable information is to be obtained from longitudinal (L) and sideways (S) target polarisations as well as the conventional normal (N) polarisation. Thirdly, 3S_1 and 3D_1 mesons in the mass range 1 to 2.4 GeV/c could probably be separated either by diffractive dissociation of transversely polarised photons or by radiative return experiments using transversely and longitudinally polarised electrons.