π-p → π0n reaction at momenta from 15 to 40 GeV/c

The π-p → π0n cross sections are measured at the momenta of 15, 20, 25, 30 and 40 GeV/c with a high statistical accuracy. The experiments have been carried out with the IHEP 70 GeV accelerator using the NICE 648-channel hodoscope spectrometer. The number of detected π0 mesons is of about 3 millions. The amplitude analysis of the reaction at small t has shown that the spin-flip and non-spin-flip scattering amplitudes are parametrized by exponential dependences, the slope parameters being equal within several per cent. The t dependence of the differential cross section at intermediate and large t agrees with the geometrical s-channel model. The imaginary part of the universal pole Im b0(s) is found. A logarithmical increase of Im b0(s) with increase of s is observed