Noncoplanarity in proton-proton bremsstrahlung

Using the soft-photon approximation, we address the issue of the importance of noncoplanarity effects in proton-proton bremsstrahlung. We investigate the noncoplanar cross section as a function of the noncoplanarity angle φ(bar sign) for the entire range of the photon polar angle ψγ. The φ(bar sign) dependence is shown to provide a significant variation in the cross section, for a given ψγ. Thus, there can be some uncertainty in determining experimental coplanar cross sections. To avoid the phase-space singularities of spherical geometry, we utilize the Harvard noncoplanar geometry. A detailed explication of the Harvard geometry is provided. Comparison of our calculations with experimental data is included