Polarization in Pion-Nucleon Scattering and the Second and Third Pion-Nucleon Resonances

Abstract

The polarization of the recoil nucleon in pion-nucleon scattering is studied from the point of view of providing a means of distinguishing among the various angular momentum assignments proposed for the higher pion-nucleon resonances. It is shown that polarization in this reaction is just as useful a guide as polarization in photoproduction. In particular, a measurement of the polarization at and in the neighborhood of 90° in the energy range between the first and third resonances should give a fairly convincing verification of one or the other of the prevailing assignments.