BNL experiment 758: observation of hypernuclei in the 12C(π+, K+)/sub Λ/12C reaction

The goal of EXP 758 is to study the formation of hypernuclei using the X(π+,K+)/sub Λ/X* reaction and to evaluate the usefulness of the reaction for spectroscopic studies of excited states of these hypernuclei. EXP 758 ran in Spring 1983 at the C2 beam line of the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The experimental setup consisted of a separator stage, a pion spectrometer, and a kaon spectrometer. The central momentum of the pion spectrometer (beam line) was set to 1053.6 MeV/c throughout the experiment. Kaon spectrometer settings of 716.3 MeV/c and 728.0 MeV/c were used during the data-taking phase of the experiment. Data were taken at laboratory scattering angles of 50, 100, and 150 using a scintillator target (2.39 gm/cm2 of carbon). The beam flux on target was typically 4 x 106 pions per spill. The /sub Λ/12C excitation energy spectra obtained at lab angles of 50, 100, and 150 and differential cross sections are shown and compared with DWBA calculations