Measurement of Proton Proton Elastic Scattering in Pure Initial Spin States at 11.75-GeV/c

Abstract The elastic cross section for proton proton scattering at 11.75 GeV/ c was measured at the Argonne ZGS using a 50% polarized target. In the range p ⊥ 2 =0.6 → 2.2 (GeV/ c ) 2 we obtained precise measurements of d σ d t(ij) for the ⇈ ⇊, and ⇅ initial spin states perpendicular to the scattering plane. We confirmed that the asymmetry parameter, A , decreases with energy in the diffraction peak, but is approximately energy-independent at large p ⊥ 2 . We found that the spin correlation parameter c nn acquires rather dramatic structure, and at large p ⊥ 2 seems to grow with energy.