A measurement of the branching ratios of the A/sub 2//sup -/ meson produced in 39 GeV/c pi /sup -/ rho interactions (for pi /sup -/ rho interactions read pi /sup -/p interactions)

The branching fractions of the A/sub 2//sup -/ meson, produced in the reaction pi /sup -/p to pA/sub 2//sup -/ at 3.9 GeV/c incident momentum are measured. The rates for the eta pi and KK modes relative to rho pi are 0.211+or-0.044 and 0.056+or-0.014, respectively. The upper limit for the eta ' pi mode is 0.056 at the 90% confidence level. The authors have also looked for an omega pi pi decay of the A /sub 2//sup -/ and their data are consistent with a rate of 0.10+or-0.05, relative to rho pi . (11 refs).