Proton knockout from light nuclei by 170-MeV. pi. /sup +/ mesons

Nuclear emulsions have been used to study the reaction (..pi../sup +/,..pi../sup +/p) in carbon and oxygen nuclei at a ..pi../sup +/-meson energy of 170 MeV. We have obtained the integrated cross section, the momentum and angular distributions of the residual nuclei, the energy spectrum and angular distribution of the protons, and the differential cross section for scattering of ..pi../sup +/ mesons. The experimental results are compared with calculations according to the dispersion theory of direct nuclear reactions. It is shown that the mechanism of direct nucleon knockout provides the dominant contribution to the cross section of the reaction.