Large-angle production of charged pions by 3 GeV/c - 12.9 GeV/c protons on beryllium, aluminium and lead targets

TL;DR

This paper reports detailed measurements of charged pion production cross-sections in proton collisions with beryllium, aluminium, and lead targets across a range of proton energies, providing valuable data for particle physics and detector design.

Contribution

It provides new double-differential cross-section data for charged pion production at multiple proton energies on various targets, expanding existing datasets.

Findings

Cross-section data covers 3 to 12.9 GeV/c proton energies.

Measurements span a wide angular and momentum range.

Results are compared with previous experimental data.

Abstract

Measurements of the double-differential $\pi^{\pm}$ production cross-section in the range of momentum $100 \MeVc \leq p < 800 \MeVc$ and angle $0.35 \rad \leq \theta < 2.15 \rad$ in proton--beryllium, proton--aluminium and proton--lead collisions are presented. The data were taken with the HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. The pions were produced by proton beams in a momentum range from 3 \GeVc to 12.9 \GeVc hitting a target with a thickness of 5% of a nuclear interaction length. The tracking and identification of the produced particles was performed using a small-radius cylindrical time projection chamber (TPC) placed inside a solenoidal magnet. Incident particles were identified by an elaborate system of beam detectors. Results are obtained for the double-differential cross-sections at six incident proton beam momenta (3 \GeVc, 5 \GeVc, 8 \GeVc, 8.9 \GeVc (Be only), 12 \GeVc and 12.9 \GeVc (Al only)) and compared to previously available data.