Electroproduction of p π^{+} π^{-} off protons at 0.2<Q^{2}<0.6 GeV^{2} and 1.3<W<1.57 GeV with CLAS

Abstract

This paper reports on the most comprehensive data set obtained on differential and fully integrated cross sections for the process $ep\to e^{\prime }p{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$. The data were collected with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory. Measurements were carried out in the so-far unexplored kinematic region of photon virtuality 0.2 $<$ $Q^2$ $<$ 0.6 GeV${}^2$ and invariant mass of the final hadron system $W$ from 1.3 to 1.57 GeV. For the first time, nine independent 1-fold differential cross sections were determined in each bin of $W$ and $Q^2$ covered by the measurements. A phenomenological analysis of the data allowed us to establish the most significant mechanisms contributing to the reaction. The non-resonant mechanisms account for a major part of cross-sections. However, we find sensitivity to s-channel excitations of low-mass nucleon resonances, especially to the $N(1440)P_{11}$ and $N(1520)D_{13}$ states in kinematical dependencies of the 1-fold differential cross-sections.