Evidence for the tensor meson exchange in the kaon photoproduction

TL;DR

This paper investigates the role of tensor meson $K_2^*(1430)$ exchange in kaon photoproduction, demonstrating its importance within the Regge framework and showing that SU(3) symmetry effectively describes meson-baryon couplings.

Contribution

It introduces the tensor meson $K_2^*$ exchange into the Regge model for kaon photoproduction, improving the theoretical description without fitting parameters.

Findings

Inclusion of $K_2^*$ exchange improves model accuracy.

SU(3) symmetry effectively describes meson-baryon couplings.

Tensor meson exchange is significant in kaon photoproduction.

Abstract

The contribution of the tensor meson $K_2^*(1430)$ exchange in the process $\gamma p\to K^+\Lambda(\Sigma^0)$ is investigated within the Regge framework. Inclusion of the $K_2^*$ exchange in the $K(494)+K^*(892)$ exchanges with the coupling constants chosen from the SU(3) symmetry leads to a better description of the production mechanism without referring to any fitting procedure. This shows the significance of the role of the tensor meson exchange to have the Regge theory basically free of parameters with the SU(3) symmetry a good approximation for the meson-baryon couplings.