Pion absorption on⁴He into the ppd final state

Results from a 4π solid angle measurement of the reaction π⁺+⁴He→ppd at incident pion energies of T_π⁺=70, 118, 162, 239, and 330 MeV are presented. Integrated cross sections are given for the final states with energetic deuterons (ppd) and (pd)p. The differential cross sections are described by a complete set of five independent variables and various other kinematic variables and compared to cascade and phase space models where deuterons were formed by a semiclassical pickup model. The data are investigated for signatures of initial and final state interactions: it is found that more than half of the (ppd) yield cannot be explained by these mechanisms. The remaining strength is reasonably well reproduced by 3N phase space models followed by pickup.