Physics Opportunities with Meson Beams

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the need for a new high-quality meson-beam facility to complement electromagnetic data, aiming to significantly advance baryon and meson spectroscopy and hadron physics research.

Contribution

It highlights the current deficiencies in meson-beam data and advocates for constructing a state-of-the-art facility to enable new scientific discoveries.

Findings

Current meson-beam data are outdated or poor quality.

High-statistics meson-beam data are essential for progress.

A new facility would unlock significant advances in hadron physics.

Abstract

Over the past two decades, meson photo- and electro-production data of unprecedented quality and quantity have been measured at electromagnetic facilities worldwide. By contrast, the meson-beam data for the same hadronic final states are mostly outdated and largely of poor quality, or even nonexistent, and thus provide inadequate input to help interpret, analyze, and exploit the full potential of the new electromagnetic data. To reap the full benefit of the high-precision electromagnetic data, new high-statistics data from measurements with meson beams, with good angle and energy coverage for a wide range of reactions, are critically needed to advance our knowledge in baryon and meson spectroscopy and other related areas of hadron physics. To address this situation, a state of-the-art meson-beam facility needs to be constructed. The present paper summarizes unresolved issues in hadron physics and outlines the vast opportunities and advances that only become possible with such a facility.