The Pp -> D Pi(+)Pi(0) Reaction - A Case Of Delta Delta Excitation Without Abc-Effect

The ABC effect, a low-mass enhancement in the invariant pp mass, is observed in double-pionic fusion reactions leading to a bound nuclear system in the final state. From previous measurements there have been indications that this phenomenon is resctricted to the sigma channel of the pp system. With exclusive measurements of the pp -> d pi(+)pi(0) reaction at T-p = 1.1 GeV we demonstrate that, indeed, the ABC effect does not occur in the vector-isovector Delta Delta channel (rho channel) despite the fact that the Delta Delta excitation is oberved to be the dominant reaction process. We also show that this reaction is well described by a t-channel Delta Delta excitation with the subsequent decay into the vector-isovector Delta Delta channel given by the rho channel operator.