Study of the 3He-eta system in d-p collisions

Abstract

We have measured excitation functions for the d+p->3He+X, (X=pi0, eta) channels near the eta production threshold. The data were taken during a slow ramping of the COSY internal deuteron beam scattered on a proton target. The excitation function for the reaction d+p->3He+pi0 does not show any structure which could originate from the decay of 3He-eta bound state. We measured also the threshold excitation curve for the d+p->3He+X process, however, contrary to the SATURNE results, we observe no cusp near the eta threshold.