Photoproduction of neutral kaons on the liquid deuterium target in the threshold region

TL;DR

This study investigates neutral kaon photoproduction on liquid deuterium near threshold energies, providing new experimental data that constrains theoretical models of strangeness production mechanisms.

Contribution

It offers the first detailed experimental differential cross sections for neutral kaon production on deuterium near threshold, testing and refining existing theoretical models.

Findings

Data favor backward-peaked angular distribution for n(gamma,K0)Lambda

Experimental spectra agree with spectator model calculations

Results constrain models of kaon photoproduction mechanisms

Abstract

The photoproduction process of neutral kaons on a liquid deuterium target is investigated near the threshold region, Egamma = 0.8-1.1 GeV. K0 events are reconstructed from positive and negative pions, and differential cross sections are derived. Experimental momentum spectra are compared with those calculated in the spectator model using a realistic deuteron wave function. Elementary amplitudes as given by recent isobar models and a simple phenomenological model are used to study the effect of the new data on the angular behavior of the elementary cross section. The data favor a backward-peaked angular distribution of the elementary n(gamma,K0)Lambda process, which provides additional constraints on current models of kaon photoproduction. The present study demonstrates that the n(gamma,K0)Lambda reaction can provide key information on the mechanism of the photoproduction of strangeness.