PION ABSORPTION ABOVE THE DELTA(1232) RESONANCE

Two-proton and three-proton inclusive pi+ absorption cross sections we re measured for incident pion energies from 250 to 500 MeV on targets of C-12, N-58, Zr-90, Sn-118, and Pb-208 using a large solid angle bis muth germanate detector array. Pion absorption events leading to three or more protons in the final state were observed to become more signi ficant with increasing incident pion energy and were dominant at 500 M eV. The total absorption cross sections were inferred from analyses of the data with uncertainties of approximately 25%.