First Simultaneous K$^-$p $\rightarrow (\Sigma^0/\Lambda) \, \pi^0$ Cross Sections Measurements at 98 MeV/c

TL;DR

This paper presents the first simultaneous measurements of specific K$^-$p reaction cross sections near 100 MeV/c, achieving unprecedented precision in the low-energy regime using the DA$usionPhi$NE collider and KLOE detector.

Contribution

It provides the first independent measurements of K$^-$p $ ightarrow oldsymbol{ ext{(} extSigma^0 ext{ or } extLambda ext{)}} oldsymbol{ ext{ extpi}^0}$ cross sections at around 100 MeV/c with high precision.

Findings

Measured cross sections with the highest precision at low kaon momentum.

First simultaneous measurement of two reaction channels in this energy range.

Results improve understanding of low-energy kaon-proton interactions.

Abstract

We report the first simultaneous and independent measurements of the K$^{-}$p $\rightarrow \Sigma^0 \, \pi^{0}$ and K$^{-}$p $\rightarrow \Lambda \, \pi^{0}$ cross sections around 100 MeV/c kaon momentum. The kaon beam delivered by the DA$\Phi$NE collider was exploited to detect K$^-$ absorptions on Hydrogen atoms, populating the gas mixture of the KLOE drift chamber. The precision of the measurements ($\sigma_{K^- p \rightarrow \Sigma^0 \pi^0} = 42.8 \pm 1.5 (stat.) ^{+2.4}_{-2.0}(syst.) \ \mathrm{mb}$ and $\sigma_{K^- p \rightarrow \Lambda \pi^0} = 31.0 \pm 0.5 (stat.) ^{+1.2}_{-1.2}(syst.) \ \mathrm{mb}\,$) is the highest yet obtained in the low kaon momentum regime.