Isocalar Roper excitation in the pp --> pp pi0 reaction close to threshold

Abstract

A new mechanism for the pp --> pp pi0 reaction close to threshold is suggested coming from the isoscalar excitation of the Roper and its decay into N(pi pi)S-wave, with one of the pi0 emitted and the other one reabsorbed on the second nucleon. The mechanism can lead to important interference with other mechanisms and, together with experiment, serves to exclude large ranges of the 2pi N* decay parameters allowed by the N* partial decay widths.

11 LaTeX pages, 4 postscript figures