Double-Pionic Fusion of Nuclear Systems and the ABC Effect: Approaching a Puzzle by Exclusive and Kinematically Complete Measurements

The ABC effect-a puzzling low-mass enhancement in the pi pi invariant mass spectrum, first observed by Abashian, Booth, and Crowe-is well known from inclusive measurements of two-pion production in nuclear fusion reactions. Here we report on the first exclusive and kinematically complete measurements of the most basic double-pionic fusion reaction pn -> d pi(0)pi(0) at beam energies of 1.03 and 1.35 GeV. The measurements, which have been carried out at CELSIUS-WASA, reveal the ABC effect to be a (pi pi)(I=L=0) channel phenomenon associated with both a resonancelike energy dependence in the integral cross section and the formation of a Delta Delta system in the intermediate state. A corresponding simple s-channel resonance ansatz provides a surprisingly good description of the data.