Analysis of the pi0pi0 Final State in the pi- p reactions at 18.3 GeV/c

Abstract

The reaction pi- p -> pi0 pi0 n may be used to examine both scalar and tensor mesons. The f0(980) signature changes from destructive interference at small momentum transfer to an enhancement at large momentum transfer. The f2(1270) production mechanism also changes as a function of momentum transfer. Unnatural parity exchange dominates at small |t|, natural parity exchange becomes the leading production mechanism at larger momentum transfer. These results are based on 188,000 pi- p -> pi0 pi0 n events collected by the E852 collaboration at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1994.