Investigation of near-threshold eta production in the pd->pd eta reaction

Abstract

We propose to measure the near threshold eta meson production in the dp->pd eta reaction for seven excess energies in the range from 1 MeV to 15 MeV. The experiment can be performed with the COSY-11 facility using the internal deuteron beam of the COSY accelerator. Momenta of the final protons will be measured with the existing detector system whereas for the determination of the deuteron momenta an additional detector has to be installed. The eta mesons will be identified via the missing mass determination. Data on the dp->pd eta reaction are needed in order to contribute to the understanding of the eta meson production mechanism in a three nucleon system. They are also important for studies of the low energy eta-deuteron interaction, which according to theoretical predictions can be strong enough to form quasi-bound states.

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