The η′-carbon potential at low meson momenta

The production of η′ mesons in coincidence with forward-going protons has been studied in photon-induced reactions on 12C and on a liquid hydrogen (LH2) target for incoming photon energies of 1.3-2.6 GeV at the electron accelerator ELSA. The η′ mesons have been identified via the η′→π0π0η→6γ decay registered with the CBELSA/TAPS detector system. Coincident protons have been identified in the MiniTAPS BaF2 array at polar angles of 2∘≤θp≤11∘. Under these kinematic constraints the η′ mesons are produced with relatively low kinetic energy (≈150 MeV) since the coincident protons take over most of the momentum of the incident-photon beam. For the C-target this allows the determination of the real part of the η′-carbon potential at low meson momenta by comparing with collision model calculations of the η′ kinetic energy distribution and excitation function. Fitting the latter data for η′ mesons going backwards in the center-of-mass system yields a potential depth of V=−(44±16(stat)±15(syst)) MeV, consistent with earlier determinations of the potential depth in inclusive measurements for average η′ momenta of ≈1.1 GeV/c. Within the experimental uncertainties, there is no indication of a momentum dependence of the η′-carbon potential. The LH2 data, taken as a reference to check the data analysis and the model calculations, provide differential and integral cross sections in good agreement with previous results for η′ photoproduction off the free proton.