Two‐nucleon processes in pion‐induced double charge exchange in 4He: A coincidence measurement of the 4He(π+,π− p)3p reaction

Abstract

Inclusive measurements of pion double‐charge‐exchange in 3He[1] and 4He[2] in the Δ(1232) resonance region suggest the dominance of a two‐step sequential single‐charge‐exchange mechanism involving quasi‐free nucleons. To investigate this reaction mechanism, we have observed protons in coincidence with the outgoing pion in π++4He→π−+4p at Tπ+=240 MeV. Pions were detected in a magnetic spectrometer at θπ−=32°, while protons were detected in a close‐packed array of plastic scintillator telescopes covering θp=67.5°–157.5° on the same side of the beam as the spectrometer, and θp=22.5°–157.5° on the opposite side. We will present preliminary results for the distributions in energy and angle of the coincident protons. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.