# NEW RESULTS FROM EXPERIMENT WA102: A PARTIAL WAVE ANALYSIS OF THE CENTRALLY PRODUCED 𝐾⁢𝐾̄ AND 𝜋⁢𝜋 SYSTEMS

## 1 Introduction

There is considerable current interest in trying to isolate the lightest glueball. Several experiments have been performed using glue-rich production mechanisms. One such mechanism is Double Pomeron Exchange (DPE) where the Pomeron is thought to be a multi-gluonic object. Consequently it has been anticipated that production of glueballs may be especially favoured in this process.

The WA102 experiment at the CERN Omega Spectrometer studies centrally produced exclusive final states formed in the reaction

$$ppp_fX^0p_s,$$
(1)   
where the subscripts $`f`$ and $`s`$ refer to the fastest and slowest particles in the laboratory frame respectively and $`X^0`$ represents the central system.

## 2 A partial wave analysis of the $`K\overline{K}`$ system

The isolation of the reaction

$$ppp_f(K^+K^{})p_s$$
(2)   
has been described in detail in a previous publication. A Partial Wave Analysis (PWA) of the centrally produced $`K^+K^{}`$ system has been performed, using the reflectivity basis, in 40 MeV intervals of the $`K^+K^{}`$ mass spectrum using an event-by-event maximum likelihood method. The $`S_0^{}`$ and $`D_0^{}`$-Waves from the physical solution are shown in fig. 1.

The $`S_0^{}`$-wave shows a threshold enhancement; the peaks at 1.5 GeV and 1.7 GeV are interpreted as being due to the $`f_0(1500)`$ and $`f_J(1710)`$ with J = 0. A fit has been performed to the $`S_0^{}`$ wave using three interfering Breit-Wigners to describe the $`f_0(980)`$, $`f_0(1500)`$ and $`f_J(1710)`$ and a background of the form $`a(mm_{th})^bexp(cmdm^2)`$, where $`m`$ is the $`K^+K^{}`$ mass, $`m_{th}`$ is the $`K^+K^{}`$ threshold mass and a, b, c, d are fit parameters. The resulting fit is shown in fig. 1 and gives for the $`f_0(980)`$ M = 985 $`\pm `$ 10 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 65 $`\pm `$ 20 MeV, for the $`f_0(1500)`$ M = 1497 $`\pm `$ 10 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 104 $`\pm `$ 25 MeV and for the $`f_0(1710)`$ M = 1730 $`\pm `$ 15 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 100 $`\pm `$ 25 MeV parameters which are consistent with the PDG values for these resonances.

The $`D_0^{}`$-wave shows peaks in the 1.3 and 1.5 GeV regions, presumably due to the $`f_2(1270)/a_2(1320)`$ and $`f_2^{}(1525)`$ and a wide structure above 2 GeV. There is no evidence for any significant structure in the D-wave in the region of the $`f_J(1710)`$. In addition, there are no statistically significant structures in any of the other waves. A fit has been performed to the $`D_0^{}`$ wave above 1.2 GeV using three incoherent relativistic spin 2 Breit-Wigners to describe the $`f_2(1270)/a_2(1320)`$, $`f_2^{}(1525)`$ and the peak at 2.2 GeV and a background of the form described above. The resulting fit is shown in fig. 1 and gives for the $`f_2(1270)/a_2(1320)`$ M = 1305 $`\pm `$ 20 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 132 $`\pm `$ 25 MeV, for the $`f_2^{}(1525)`$ M = 1515 $`\pm `$ 15 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 70 $`\pm `$ 25 MeV and for the $`f_2(2150)`$ M = 2130 $`\pm `$ 35 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 270 $`\pm `$ 50 MeV.

A study has also been made of the centrally produced $`K_S^0K_S^0`$ channel. This channel has lower statistics than the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel but has the advantage that only even spins can contribute, which also means that there are only two ambiguous solutions to the PWA. The physical solution resulting from the PWA is the same as for the $`K^+K^{}`$ final state; namely that the $`S_0^{}`$-wave shows a threshold enhancement and peaks at 1.5 GeV and 1.7 GeV interpreted as being due to the $`f_0(1500)`$ and $`f_J(1710)`$ with J = 0.

## 3 A partial wave analysis of the $`\pi \pi `$ system

The isolation of the reaction

$$ppp_f(\pi ^+\pi ^{})p_s$$
(3)   
has been described in detail in a previous publication. The resulting centrally produced $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ system consists of 2.87 million events. A PWA of the centrally produced $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ system has been performed, using the reflectivity basis, in 20 MeV intervals of the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ mass spectrum using an event-by-event maximum likelihood method. The $`S_0^{}`$, $`P_0^{}`$ and $`D_0^{}`$-Waves from the physical solution are shown in fig. 2. The $`S_0^{}`$-wave spectrum shows a clear threshold enhancement followed by a sharp drop at 1 GeV. There is clear evidence for the $`\rho (770)`$ in the $`P_0^{}`$ wave and for the $`f_2(1270)`$ in the $`D_0^{}`$ wave.

An interesting feature of the $`D_0^{}`$ wave is the presence of a structure below 1 GeV. In order to see if this effect is due to acceptance problems or problems due to non-central events, we have reanalysed the data using a series of different cuts but after acceptance correction no cut has been found that can remove the low mass structure. In order to investigate any systematic effects we have also analysed the central $`\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ data and a similar structure is also found. This structure does indeed seem to be a real effect which is present in other centrally produced $`\pi \pi `$ systems.

In order to obtain a satisfactory fit to the $`S_0^{}`$ wave from threshold to 2 GeV it has been found to be necessary to use three interfering Breit-Wigners to describe the $`f_0(980)`$, $`f_0(1300)`$ and $`f_0(1500)`$ and a background of the form $`a(mm_{th})^bexp(cmdm^2)`$, where $`m`$ is the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ mass, $`m_{th}`$ is the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ threshold mass and a, b, c, d are fit parameters. The fit is shown in fig. 2a) for the entire mass range and in fig. 2b) for masses above 1 GeV. The resulting parameters are for the $`f_0(980)`$ M = 982 $`\pm `$ 3 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 80 $`\pm `$ 10 MeV, for the $`f_0(1300)`$ M = 1308 $`\pm `$ 10 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 222 $`\pm `$ 20 MeV and for the $`f_0(1500)`$ M = 1502 $`\pm `$ 10 MeV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 131 $`\pm `$ 15 MeV which are consistent with the PDG  values for these resonances. As can be seen, the fit describes the data well for masses below 1 GeV. It was not possible to describe the data above 1 GeV without the addition of both the $`f_0(1300)`$ and $`f_0(1500)`$ resonances. However, even with this fit using three Breit-Wigners it can be seen that the fit does not describe well the 1.7 GeV region. This could be due to a $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ decay mode of the $`f_J(1710)`$ with J = 0. Including a fourth Breit-Wigner in this mass region decreases the $`\chi ^2`$ from 256 to 203 and yields for the $`f_J(1710)`$ M = 1750 $`\pm `$ 20 MeV and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 160 $`\pm `$ 30 MeV parameters which are consistent with the PDG  values for the $`f_J(1710)`$. The fit is shown in fig. 2c) for masses above 1 GeV.

## 4 A Glueball-$`q\overline{q}`$ filter in central production ?

The WA102 experiment studies mesons produced in double exchange processes. However, even in the case of pure DPE the exchanged particles still have to couple to a final state meson. The coupling of the two exchanged particles can either be by gluon exchange or quark exchange. Assuming the Pomeron is a colour singlet gluonic system if a gluon is exchanged then a gluonic state is produced, whereas if a quark is exchanged then a $`q\overline{q}`$ state is produced. In order to describe the data in terms of a physical model, Close and Kirk, have proposed that the data be analysed in terms of the difference in transverse momentum ($`dP_T`$) between the particles exchanged from the fast and slow vertices. The idea being that for small differences in transverse momentum between the two exchanged particles an enhancement in the production of glueballs relative to $`q\overline{q}`$ states may occur.

The contribution of each resonance as a function of $`dP_T`$ has been calculated. Figure 3 shows the ratio of the number of events for $`dP_T`$ $`<`$ 0.2 GeV to the number of events for $`dP_T`$ $`>`$ 0.5 GeV for each resonance considered. It can be observed that all the undisputed $`q\overline{q}`$ states which can be produced in DPE, namely those with positive G parity and $`I=0`$, have a very small value for this ratio ($`0.1`$). Some of the states with $`I=1`$ or G parity negative, which can not be produced by DPE, have a slightly higher value ($`0.25`$). However, all of these states are suppressed relative to the the glueball candidates the $`f_0(1500)`$, $`f_J(1710)`$, and $`f_2(1930)`$, together with the enigmatic $`f_0(980)`$, which have a large value for this ratio.

## 5 The azimuthal angle between the outgoing protons

The azimuthal angle ($`\varphi `$) is defined as the angle between the $`p_T`$ vectors of the two protons. Naively it may be expected that this angle would be flat irrespective of the resonances produced. Fig. 4 shows the $`\varphi `$ dependence for two $`J^{PC}`$ = $`0^+`$ final states (the $`\eta `$ and $`\eta ^{}`$), two $`J^{PC}`$ = $`1^{++}`$ final states (the $`f_1(1285)`$ and $`f_1(1420)`$) and two $`J^{PC}`$ = $`2^{++}`$ final states (the $`\varphi \varphi `$ and $`K^{}(892)\overline{K}^{}(892)`$ systems). The $`\varphi `$ dependence is clearly not flat and considerable variation is observed between final states with different $`J^{PC}`$s.

## 6 Summary

In conclusion, a partial wave analysis of the centrally produced $`K\overline{K}`$ system has been performed. The striking feature is the observation of peaks in the $`S_0^{}`$-wave corresponding to the $`f_0(1500)`$ and $`f_J(1710)`$ with J = 0. In addition, a partial wave analysis of a high statistics sample of centrally produced $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ events shows that the $`S_0^{}`$-wave is composed of a broad enhancement at threshold, a sharp drop at 1 GeV due to the interference between the $`f_0(980)`$ and the S-wave background, the $`f_0(1300)`$, the $`f_0(1500)`$ and the $`f_J(1710)`$ with J = 0.

A study of centrally produced pp interactions show that there is the possibility of a glueball-$`q\overline{q}`$ filter mechanism ($`dP_T`$). All the undisputed $`q\overline{q}`$ states are observed to be suppressed at small $`dP_T`$, but the glueball candidates $`f_0(1500)`$, $`f_J(1710)`$, and $`f_2(1930)`$ , together with the enigmatic $`f_0(980)`$, survive. In addition, the production cross section for different resonances depends strongly on the azimuthal angle between the two outgoing protons.