A calculation of the production of pions by 450-MeV protons on nuclei

Starting with assumed pion yields in nucleon–nucleon collisions, we consider the influence of the various nuclear effects on the pion yields from the bombardment of various nuclei with 450-MeV protons. In addition to the proton and pion absorption within the nucleus considered by earlier workers, we also include the effects of the momentum distribution and the density distribution of the struck nucleons. The pion absorption, which is density-dependent, is found to dominate the relative yields in various nuclei at these proton energies, using modern densities. We obtain agreement with the measured relative yields as illustrated with the results for pion angle of 21.5° and pion energy of 83 MeV.