A study of high transverse energy interactions of 150 and 300 GeV pions and protons on a hydrogen target using a large acceptance calorimeter

Interactions of 150 GeV pions and 300 GeV pions and protons on hydrogen which result in final states with large transverse energy in the central rapidity region −0.88 < y < 0.67 were studied with a calorimeter trigger. The dependence of the cross section on the azimuthal acceptance of the trigger, on the beam energy and on the incident particle type and the jet properties of the events were investigated. No dominant two-jet structure was found. Nevertheless, the parton spectrum in the colliding hadrons appears to be relevant for large transverse energy reactions.