Associated strangeness production in the pp to pK^+K^-p and pp to pK^+ pi^0 Sigma^0 reactions

TL;DR

This study models associated strangeness production in proton-proton collisions, successfully reproducing experimental data and revealing significant $sar{s}$ components in the $N^*(1535)$ resonance through an effective Lagrangian approach.

Contribution

It introduces a unified effective Lagrangian model for describing associated strangeness production in $pp$ collisions, emphasizing the role of the $ ext{N}^*(1535)$ resonance and its coupling to $ ext{Lambda}(1405)K$.

Findings

The model reproduces experimental cross sections accurately.

The ratio of total cross sections is robust against model variations.

Large $sar{s}$$ components are indicated in the $N^*(1535)$ resonance.

Abstract

The total and differential cross sections for associated strangeness production in the $pp \to pK^+K^-p$ and $pp \to pK^+\pi^0\Sigma^0$ reactions have been studied in a unified approach using an effective Lagrangian model. It is assumed that both the $K^-p$ and $\pi^0\Sigma^0$ final states originate from the decay of the $\Lambda(1405)$ resonance which was formed in the production chain $pp\to p(N^*(1535)\to K^+\Lambda(1405))$. The available experimental data are well reproduced, especially the ratio of the two total cross sections, which is much less sensitive to the particular model of the entrance channel. The significant coupling of the $N^*(1535)$ resonance to $\Lambda(1405) K$ is further evidence for large $s \bar{s}$ components in the quark wave function of the $N^*(1535)$ resonance.