Neutral Meson Photoproduction from Complex Nuclei

The angular distributions of neutral mesons produced by 170-MeV bremsstrahlung on carbon, aluminum, copper, cadmium, and lead have been obtained through the coincident detection of the decay photons by a scintillation counter system. The experimental data have been analyzed by means of a Monte Carlo prediction based on an impulse-approximation elastic coherent production model. The nuclear density distributions which were used in the synthesis of those predictions which were in best agreement with the experimental data from this experiment have been compared to the charge density distributions inferred from electron scattering experiments. The values of the rms radii of nuclear matter obtained in this experiment are, within the limits of error of the experiment (about 2×${10}^{-14\mathrm{}}$ cm), consistent with the values of charge distribution radii obtained in electron scattering.