Near-threshold h meson production in proton-proton collisions

The production of h mesons has been measured in the proton-proton interaction close to the reaction threshold using the COSY-11 internal facility at the cooler synchrotron COSY. Total cross sections were determined for eight different excess . energies e in the range from e s 0.5 MeV to e s 5.4 MeV. The energy dependence of the total cross section is well described by the available phase-space volume weighted by FSI factors for the proton-proton and proton-h pairs. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.