Search for higher twists in meson resonance production in π N interactions at PT≥2 GeV/c.

We study the production of meson resonance at pT≥2 GeV/c in π Be interactions at two beam energies (150 and 300 GeV/c). The motivation is to look for the higher twist (HT) production mechanism, expected to exist besides standard hadron production through the fragmentation process of scattered quarks and gluons, the so-called leading twist (LT) mechanism. We show that the φ, K* (892) and K* (892) are found free from HT effects with a good accuracy, as expected from HT estimates and QCD sum rules. The magnitudes of the f (1270) and ρ mesons signals are found larger than expected from the standard Lund (LT) Monte Carlo and from information provided by e e annihilation experiments. The possible connection of these excesses with HT physics is discussed. We also report the first evidence for the production of f (975) mesons in hadronic experiments at large p . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]