Analysis of Δ0(1232) production in collisions of protons with carbon nuclei at 4.2 GeV/c

The production of Δ 0 (1232)-resonances in p + 12 C collisions at 4.2 GeV/ c was analyzed with 4 π acceptance. The mass distribution of Δ 0 (1232) was reconstructed using an angular criterion. The fraction of charged π − -mesons coming from Δ 0 (1232) decay was estimated and compared to those obtained in earlier works. The momentum, transverse momentum, kinetic energy, and rapidity distributions as well as invariant cross sections of Δ 0 (1232)-resonances were reconstructed in the laboratory frame. The mean kinematical characteristics of the reconstructed Δ 0 (1232) were compared to those of participant protons in experiment and within some of the models. The freeze-out temperature of Δ 0 (1232) estimated in the present analysis was compared with those obtained using different methods for Δ(1232) produced with other sets of colliding nuclei at various incident energies. The relative number of nucleons excited to Δ 0 (1232) at freeze-out conditions in p+ 12 C collisions was estimated.