Coherent two pion photoproduction on 12C

Abstract

We develop the formalism for coherent two pion photoproduction in nuclei and perform actual calculations of cross sections for $π^-π^+$ and $π^0π^0$ photoproduction on $^{12}C$. We find that due to the isospin symmetry the cross section for $π^0π^0$ production is very small and has a maximum when the pions propagate together. However, the kinematical region where the energies and polar angles of the two $π^0$ mesons are equal and their relative azimuthal angle $ϕ=180^0$ is forbidden. Conversely in the $π^-π^+$ production the pions prefer to have a relative azimuthal angle 180$^0$ and the production of the pions propagating together is suppressed. The dominant one-body mechanism in both channels is related to the excitation of the $Δ$ isobar. Hence the reaction can serve as a source of information about $Δ$'s properties in nucleus. We have found that the reaction is sensitive to effects of the pion and $Δ$ renormalization in the nuclear medium, similar to those found in the coherent $(γ,π^0)$ reaction, but magnified because of the presence of the two pions.