A Cloud-Chamber Investigation of Charged V Particles

Author: Trilling, George Henry

Year: 1955

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisors: Anderson, Carl D.; Leighton, Robert B.; Cowan, Eugene W.

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Physics; Mathematics

DOI: 10.7907/1AF7-4Y96

Abstract

NOTE: Text or symbols not renderable in plain ASCII are indicated by [...]. Abstract is included in .pdf document.

An analysis of 84 charged V events obtained during two years of operation of a vertical magnetic cloud-chamber array is presented. The particular features of interest which are studied in detail are the distribution of P*, the momentum of [...] charged secondary in the rest system of the primary, and the possible existence of a component of short lifetime (i.e., [...]).

The P* distribution from 19 slow, accurately measurable positive events is shown to imply that the large majority of these events arise from one or more two-body decays from primaries of mass approximately equal to that of the [...] meson. One case turns out to be inconsistent with this interpretation, and is presumed to represent a three-body decay.

The P* distribution from six slow, accurately measurable negative events is consistent with a single two-body decay having a P* value of about 200 Mev/c. This suggests the existence of a negative counterpart to the well-known [...] particle, though the statistics are much too poor to permit any strong conclusion.

The lifetime analysis provides strong evidence for the existence of a negative component of lifetime equal to or less than (1.3[plus or minus]0.6) x [...]second. The transverse momentum distribution for these short lived events is shown to suggest a two-body decay with a P* value of 201[plus or minus]12 Mev/c.

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