Observation of η′ and φ meson production very close to threshold in the p d → 3He X reaction

Abstract The production of η′ (958) and φ (1020) mesons has been studied very close to threshold in the inclusive p d → 3 He X reaction. The complicated phase space acceptance problem caused by rapidly changing kinematics close to threshold has been carefully treated. The measured averaged squared amplitudes | f | 2 at threshold are 0.9 and 2.4 nb/sr for the η′ and φ meso Our results are in remarkable agreement with predictions of a two-step model, which uses existing π − p → n X data as input. However the ratio of φ to ω production seems at variance with naive expectations based on the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule.