Polarisation of the ω meson in the pd→He3ω reaction at 1360 and 1450 MeV

Abstract The tensor polarisation of ω mesons produced in the p d → He 3 ω reaction has been studied at two energies near threshold. The He 3 nuclei were detected in coincidence with the π 0 π + π − or π 0 γ decay products of the ω . In contrast to the case of ϕ -meson production, the ω mesons are found to be unpolarised. This brings into question the applicability of the Okubo–Zweig–Iizuka rule when comparing the production of vector mesons in low energy hadronic reactions.