Measurement and analysis of the pp -> pp gamma reaction at 310 MeV

TL;DR

This study measures the pp -> pp gamma reaction at 310 MeV, analyzing angular distributions and total cross sections, and compares results with a refined bremsstrahlung model, confirming its accuracy across a range of excitation energies.

Contribution

It provides detailed experimental data on the pp -> pp gamma reaction at 310 MeV and validates a new refined model of the hard bremsstrahlung process against these measurements.

Findings

Angular distributions match model predictions up to Epp ~ 30 MeV

Total cross section agrees with the refined model within uncertainties

Behavior of distributions with excitation energy is well reproduced by the model

Abstract

The pp -> pp gamma reaction has been studied at a beam energy of 310 MeV by detecting both final protons at the PROMICE-WASA facility and identifying the photon through the resulting missing-mass peak. The photon angular distribution in the center-of-mass system and those of the proton-proton relative momentum with respect to the beam direction and to that of the recoil photon were determined reliably up to a final pp excitation energy of Epp ~ 30 MeV. Except for very small Epp values, the behavior of these distributions with excitation energy is well reproduced by a new refined model of the hard bremsstrahlung process. The model reproduces absolutely the total cross section and its energy dependence to within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties.