Particle Production at High Transverse Momentum

Abstract

We have measured $\frac{{d}^{2}\ensuremath{\sigma}}{d\ensuremath{\Omega}\mathrm{dp}}$, the differential cross section for the production of ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ mesons, at high ${P}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$, in 12.5-GeV/c proton-proton collisions. We covered the range $P_{\ensuremath{\perp}}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}=1.0\ensuremath{-}4.0$ ${(\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}/\mathit{c})}^{2}$ and the cross section appears to break at about 1.5 ${(\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}/\mathit{c})}^{2}$. Thus, $\frac{{d}^{2}\ensuremath{\sigma}}{d\ensuremath{\Omega}\mathrm{dp}}$ appears to be the sum of two Gaussians in ${P}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$.