In the Plowshare Program many calculations of the effects of underground explosions are made. Usually these are done on high-speed digital computers. The effects are calculated for ranges up to hundreds of meters from the explosion; at these ranges pressures become less than one kilobar. In order to make these calculations, information about the properties of the materials involved is required. Benedick [13] has developed a low-pressure, plane-wave lens using nitroguanidine. It was decided to use a similar lens in the Plowshare Program. A number of lenses were built using Benedick's technique. This report is of a study of simultaneity and pressure uniformity of these lenses, with some attempts at development of a reflection pressure vs particle velocity curve for them.

Antiproton-production and nucleon-interaction cross sections were investigated for antiprotons in the energy range 0.5 to 1.0 Bev. The antiprotons were distinguished from other particles produced at the Bevatron by a system of scintillation- and velocity-selecting Cerenkov counters. The excitation function and momentum distribution were recorded for antiproton production in carbon and compared with statistical model expectations.

A systematic study is made of the electromagnetic properties of charged vector mesons. The various formalisms used to describe charged particles of spin 1 are compared, and a new first-order formulation of the Stuckelberg theory is developed.