Measurement of the reactions and close to threshold

Abstract The reactions p p → ∑ + ∑ + and p p → ∑ − ∑ − have been investigated at GeV/c beam momentum by the PS185 Collaboration at LEAR, CERN. Of both reaction types together 170 events could be identified. The cross section of the reaction p p → ∑ + ∑ + was determined to be σ tot = 3.68 ± 0.43 μ b at an excess energy of 23 MeV. Its angular distribution exhibits a pronounced forward peaking. The ratio of the cross sections σ( p p → ∑ + ∑ + ) σ( p p → ∑ − ∑ − ) = 2.4 −1.3 +3.0 was extracted with a confidence limit of 90%. It is the first time that experimental data of these reaction channels are available close to the threshold. We compare our results with those of earlier experiments and with theoretical predictions.