Hard light meson production in (anti)proton-hadron collisions and charge-echange reactions

An extension of the QED ‘return to resonance’ mechanism to light meson emission ($\pi$, $\rho$) in (anti)proton collisions with a hadronic target (nucleon or nucleus) is proposed. The cross section and the multiplicity distributions are calculated. The collinear emission (along the beam direction) of a charged meson may be used to produce high energy (anti)neutron beams. Possible applications at existing and planned facilities are considered.