Muon-Nucleon Inelastic Scattering at High Momentum Transfers

Abstract

The inelastic interactions of high-energy muons in nuclear emulsions have been investigated using a monoenergetic beam of 5-GeV/c muons produced at the Brookhaven A. G. S. The projected angular divergence of the incident beam was found to be less than 2°, and the contamination by pion-induced events is estimated at 0.2%. A total of 134 events were located by area scanning of the emulsion pellicles. The energies of the scattered muon and, whenever possible, the shower particles were measured by the method of multiple scattering. These tracks were then identified by the well-known g*~\p\0c method. The spectrum of single mesons produced agrees with predictions of the Williams-Weisz&ker method and previous electron scattering data. The integral distributions of transferred energy and four-momentum transferred are shown to be in agreement with quantum electrodynamics. No evidence was found for an anomalous scattering in pion production previously reported by cosmic-ray workers.