Proton compton effect

The elastic scattering of photons by protons has been measured for 100 MeV to 290 MeV photons at 90° c.m.s. and 139° c.m.s. scattering angles. The expected large increase in cross-section is observed at energies approaching that of (3/2, 3/2) pion-nucleon resonance. The scattering can be qualitatively explained by the ordinary Thomson amplitude combined with that of the (3/2, 3/2) resonance. A more detailed examination of the cross-section in the region just above the photo-meson threshold has shown that it is sensitive to the π0 photon coupling. From the experimental data, one may conclude that the π0 mean life should be between 10−16 and 10−18 s.