Charm D-Meson Production In 360gev/Cpi-P Interactions - Evidence For Leading Quarks

Charm D-meson production in 360 GeV π − p interactions has been studied using the high-resolution hydrogen bubble chamber LEBC and the European Hybrid Spectrometer. The data show evidence for leading quark effects both in the number of D-meson types and in the Feynman x distributions. The production cross section is of the form d 2 δ d x d p T 2 ∞(1-x) n exp (-ap T 2 ) with n = 2.8±0.8 and a = 1.1±0.3 (GeV/ c ) −2 . The x distribution is, however, compatible with the presence of both central ( n = 6) and leading (n = 1) D / D production. The fraction of D-messons in the leading component is estimated to be ≈30%. The rapidity gap between members of reconstructed charm pairs is small compared to the available rapidity range. The inclusive cross section for single D-messons in the forward direction is: δ(D/ D )=(40 8 +15 )μ b ( for x>0) .