  The cross section for prompt neutral and charged three pion production in pp
interactions was measured at excess energies in the range 160 - 217 MeV. That
comprises the first measurement of the pp->pp pi0pi0pi0 reaction and the
comparison with the pp->pp pi+pi-pi0 reaction, in a very direct way. The
experiment was performed above the eta meson production threshold and the cross
section normalization was obtained from a concurrent measurement of the
reaction pp->pp eta with the eta decaying into 3 pions. Since the same final
states are selected, the measurement has a low systematical error. The measured
cross section ratio sigma(pp->pp pi+pi-pi0)/sigma(pp->pp pi0\pi0\pi0) is
compared to predictions of dominance of different isobars in the intermediate
state.

Nuclear Experiment