A Experimental Study of Ozi Suppression in the Reaction Negative Pion Proton Going to Phi Phi Neutron and a Search for Exotic Hybrids

A search for glueballs and exotic hybrids was performed using the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Kaon, pion and antiproton beams with momenta of 8 GeV/c were incident upon a proton target. The cross sections for phiphi and phi K^+K^ - production were measured. In addition, the reactions pi^-pto K^*overline {K^*} n, pi^-p topi^+pi^-K^+K^ -n and K^-pto pi^+ pi^-K^+K^-Lambda/Sigma ^circ were examined. The principal objective of this experiment was the measurement of the phiphi and phi K^+K^- production cross sections. These measurements were performed to examine the OZI suppression of the reaction pi^-ptophiphi n. In previous pi^-p tophiphi n experiments, the f _2(2010), f_2(2300) and f_2(2340) mesons were produced as intermediate states. The cross sections measured in this experiment indicate that the reaction pi^-ptophiphi n behaves like an OZI allowed reaction. This supports the previous identification of the f_2(2010), f_2(2300), and f_2 (2340) mesons as glueballs. The rm K^*K^* decay channel was investigated to further examine the f _2 mesons. Glueballs are predicted to have a large branching ratio to rm K^*K ^*. The measured pi ^-pto K^*K^*n cross section was 50 times the cross section for phiphi production. This is consistent with the glueball prediction. However, more data is required for a complete phase shift analysis. The pi^+pi ^-K^+K^- decay channel was studied for intermediate exotic hybrid states predicted by the Flux Tube Model. This experiment found no evidence for these states with cross section greater than 10 mub. Further work with larger experimental acceptance is suggested.