Measurement of longitudinal and transverse cross sections in the^{3}He(e,e^{'} pi^{+})^{3}H reaction at W=1.6 GeV

The coherent 3He(e,e{pi}+)3H reaction was measured at Q2 = 0.4 (GeV/c)2 and W = 1.6 GeV for two values of the virtual photon polarization, {epsilon}, allowing the separation of longitudinal and transverse cross sections. The results from the coherent process on 3He were compared to H(e,e{pi}+)n data taken at the same kinematics. This marks the first direct comparison of these processes. At these kinematics (p{pi} = 1.1 GeV/c), pion rescattering from the spectator nucleons in the 3He(e,e{pi}+)3H process is expected to be small, simplifying the comparison to {pi}+ production from the free proton.