Production and decay of the A2 meson in 7 GeV/cπ−p interactions☆

Abstract The production and decay of the A 2 meson has been studied in a 3.3 events/μb, 7 GeV/ cπ − p bubble chamberexperiment. The cross section for π − p→A 2 − p was found to be 120±25 μ b. The reaction π − p→A 2 − π 0 p was also observed. The alignment of the A 2 − is consistent with the hypothesis that the production is due mainly to ϱ-exchange. The ϱπ decay distributions favour a 2 + spin parity assignment for both the lower and upper parts of the A 2 . The ηπ decay distributions for the whole A 2 region are also consistent with J P =2 + .