$NN\to NN\pi$ reaction near threshold in a covariant one-boson-exchange model

Abstract

We calculate the cross sections for the $p(p,n{\pi }^{+})p$ and $p(p,p{\pi }^0)p$ reactions for proton beam energies near threshold in a covariant one-boson-exchange model, which incorporates the exchange of $\pi$, $\rho$, $\sigma$ and $\omega$ mesons and treats both nucleon and delta isobar as intermediate states. The final state interaction effects have also been included. The $\omega$ meson exchange is found to contribute significantly at these energies, which, along with other meson exchanges, provides an excellent agreement with the data. The cross sections at beam energies $\le$ 300 MeV are almost free from the contributions of the $\Delta$ isobar excitation.

Comments: Latex file, 11 pages, 3 postscript figures