Pion-induced pion production on deuterium: a quasifree process

Abstract A detailed experimental analysis of the π + d → π + π − pp in-plane coincidence data first presented by Rui et al. is compared to an expanded version of the Oset and Vicente-Vacas model for pion-induced pion production on a free nucleon. This extended model averages over Fermi motion to describe the assumed quasifree nature of the process occurring on the deuteron and includes nine additional diagrams to account for the N ∗ → N (ππ) p-wave reaction channels. Experimental effects such as pion energy loss in the target and in the detectors, pion decay and muon detection are investigated and incorporated into the comparison of experimental data and theory. Inclusion of Fermi motion was found to be essential to provide good agreement between data and model confirming the quasifree nature of the reaction. When compared to the total-cross-section measurements of Manley et al. , the free-reaction model yields a model-dependent estimate of the overall strength of the diagram containing the N ∗ → N (ππ) s-wave vertex.