[ital D][sup [plus minus]] production in 250 GeV [pi][sup [plus minus]][ital N] interactions

We report results from Fermilab experiment E769 on the differential cross sections of [ital D][sup *[plus minus]] charm vector mesons with respect to Feynman-[ital x] ([ital x][sub [ital F]]) and transverse momentum ([ital P][sub [ital T]]), and on the atomic mass dependence of the production. The [ital D][sup *] mesons were produced by a 250 GeV [pi] beam on a target of Be, Al, Cu, and W foils. The [ital d][sigma]/[ital dx][sub [ital F]] distribution is fit by the form (1[minus][ital x][sub [ital F]])[sup [ital n]] with [ital n]=3.5[plus minus]0.3[plus minus]0.1, the [ital d][sigma]/[ital dP][sub [ital T]][sup 2] distribution by exp([minus][ital b][times][ital P][sub [ital T]][sup 2]) with [ital b]=0.70[plus minus]0.07[plus minus]0.04 GeV[sup [minus]2], and the cross section [ital A] dependence by [ital A][sup [alpha]] with [alpha]=1.00[plus minus]0.07[plus minus]0.02. These results are compared to the equivalent parameters for the production of pseudoscalar [ital D][sup 0] and [ital D][sup [plus minus]] charm mesons.