Study of the $ηπ^o$ system in the mass range up to 1200 MeV

Abstract

The reaction $π^-p \to ηπ^o n$ has been studied with GAMS-2000 spectrometer in the secondary 38 GeV/c $π^-$-beam of the IHEP U-70 accelerator. Partial wave analysis of the reaction has been performed in the $ηπ^o$ mass range up to 1200 MeV. The $a_0(980)$-meson is seen as a sharp peak in S-wave. The $t$-dependence of $a_0(980)$ production cross section has been studied. Dominant production of the $a_0(980)$ at a small transfer momentum $t$ confirms the hypothesis of Achasov and Shestakov about significant contribution of the $ρ_2$ exchange ($I^GJ^{PC}=1^+2^{--}$) in the mechanism of $a_0(980)$ meson production in $t$-channel of the reaction.

4 pages, 3 figures, talk given at HADRON'97