First measurement of coherent double neutral-pion photoproduction on the deuteron at incident energies below 0.9 GeV

The total cross sections were measured for coherent double neutral-pion photoproduction on the deuteron at incident energies below 0.9 GeV for the first time. No clear resonance-like behavior is observed in the excitation function for $W_{\gamma d}=2.38$--2.61 GeV, where the $d^*(2380)$ dibaryon resonance observed at COSY is expected to appear. The measured excitation function is consistent with the existing theoretical calculation for this reaction. The upper limit of the total cross section is found to be $0.034$~$\mu$b for the dibaryon resonance at $W_{\gamma d}=2.37$~GeV (90\% confidence level) in the $\gamma d \to \pi^0\pi^0 d$ reaction.
Comment: submitted to Physics Letters B