The Atomic Mass Dependence of Massive Muon Pair Production in 225 GeV/c $$\pi$$ - Nucleus Interactions

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1984

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1433351· OSTI ID:1433351

Swartz, Morris L. ^[1]

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1. Chicago U.

The production of massive muon pairs in 225 GeV/c $$\pi^-$$-nucleus interactions has been studied for four nuclear targets. The dependence of the integrated cross section on atomic mass A was measured by comparing the relative cross sections for the targets. If one assumes that the cross section is proportional to $$A^{\alpha}$$, a value of a= 1.00±0.06 for muon pair masses between 4.0 GeV/$c^2$ and 8.5 GeV/$c^2$ was obtained. The Drell-Yan model predicts an additional dependence of the cross section on the proton fraction Z/A. If one parametizes the integrated cross I section as a(Z/A)$$A^{\alpha}$$ where $$\sigma$$(Z/A) is a function of the proton fraction that includes the effects of the Drell-Yan model, Fermi Motion, and secondary pion production, a value of $$\alpha$$ = 0.97±0.06 was obtained. The dependence of the muon pair transverse momentum distribution on nuclear size was also investigated. The second moment of the distribution <$$P^2_T$$> was found to be consistent with being independent of nuclear size. If the dependence of <$$P^2_T$$> on nuclear size is parametized as <$$P^2_T$$> = a + b $$A^{1/3}$$ the coefficient b was found to be less than 0.015 $GeV^2$$/$$c^2$ with 90% confidence.

• Research Organization: Chicago U.
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1433351
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-THESIS-1984-28; oai:inspirehep.net:211482
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS