Single- and double-pion production in nucleon collisions on the nucleon and on nuclei—the ABC effect and its origin in a dibaryonic resonance

Abstract The ABC effect–an intriguing low-mass enhancement in the π π invariant mass spectrum–is known from inclusive measurements of two-pion production in nuclear fusion reactions. First exclusive measurements carried out at CELSIUS-WASA for the fusion reactions leading to d or 3 He reveal this effect to be a σ -channel phenomenon associated with the formation of a Δ Δ system in the intermediate state and combined with a resonance-like behavior in the total cross-section. Together with the observation that the differential distributions do not change in shape over the resonance region the features fulfill the criteria of an isoscalar s-channel resonance in p n and N N π π systems, if the two emitted nucleons are bound. It obviously is robust enough to survive in nuclei as a dibaryonic resonance configuration. In this context also the phenomenon of N Δ resonances is reexamined.