Mass dependence of the small angle differential cross section for high energy interactions

Abstract A study of differential cross sections for 8 GeV/ c π + p and 10 GeV/ c K − p reactions, treated as two-body processes, has indicated that as the mass M of one of the “bodies” varies, the small angle differential cross section is described by d σ /d t ′ = K exp (− At ′) for all values of M , whether corresponding to a resonance or to a “background” region. In general, similar values of A are obtained for a resonance region and for its neighbouring mass bands. In most channels, as M increases, the angular distribution becomes broader, namely, A ∝ M − α , with 0 α