Observation of a quasideuteron component in the reaction 12C(π+,2p)

The reaction 12C(π+,2p) was studied at 165 and 245 MeV over a broad kinematic range by coincidence measurement of the outgoing protons. The p-p angular correlations and proton energy spectra allow an identification of the ''quasideuteron'' component of the reaction. The angular distribution of this component has a shape similar to that of the π+d→pp reaction. It is found that one-step quasideuteron absorption accounts for at most 25% of the total absorption cross section