Production of the omega meson in the pd -> He-3 omega reaction at 1450 MeV and 1360 MeV

The production of omega mesons in the pd -> He-3 omega reaction has been studied at two energies near the kinematic threshold, T-p = 1450 MeV and T-p = 1360 MeV. The differential cross section was measured as a function of the omega c.m. angle at both energies over the whole angular range. Whereas the results at 1360 MeV are consistent with isotropy, strong rises are observed near both the forward and backward directions at 1450 MeV. Calculations made using a two-step model with an intermediate pion fail to reproduce the shapes of the measured angular distributions and also underestimate the total cross sections.