Subthreshold and near-threshold K +-meson photoproduction on nuclei

The inclusive K ⁺-meson production in photon-induced reactions in the near-threshold and subthreshold energy regimes is analyzed for the one-step (γN → K ⁺ Y, Y=Λ, Σ) incoherent production processes on the basis of an appropriate new folding model that takes properly into account the struck-target nucleonremoval energy and the internal momentum distribution (nucleon spectral function), extracted from recent quasielastic-electron-scattering experiments and from many-body calculations based on realistic models of NN interaction. Simple parametrizations of the total and differential cross sections for K ⁺ production in photon-nucleon collisions are presented. A comparison of the model calculations of the K ⁺ differential cross sections for γ¹²C interactions in the threshold region with existing experimental data is given, which displays the contributions to K ⁺ production at considered incident energies from the use of the single-particle part, as well as high momentum and high removal energy part, of the nucleon spectral function. Detailed predictions for the K ⁺ total and differential cross sections for γ²H, γ¹²C, and γ²⁰⁸Pb interactions at subthreshold and near-threshold energies are provided. The effect of the uncertainties in the elementary K ⁺-production cross sections on the K ⁺ yield is explored.     

K + production in proton and deuteron induced reactions at subthreshold energies

The production ofK ⁺ mesons in proton-nucleus and deuteron-nucleus collisions is analyzed with respect to one-step nucleon-nucleon (NN → N ΛK ⁺),Δ- nucleon (ΔN → N Λ K⁺) and two-step pion-nucleon (πN → K ⁺ Λ) production channels on the basis of experimental ground state momentum distributions and free on-shell production processes. Whereas forK ⁺ production in proton-nucleus reactions the secondary channelπN clearly dominates at subthreshold energies, meson and nucleon induced channels are of similar magnitude in deuteron-nucleus reactions. Contrary to nucleus-nucleus collisions theΔ induced reaction channels are found to be of minor importance. The experimental differentiation of the underlying microscopic reaction channels appears possible via differential proton —K ⁺ coincidence measurements as shown in detail by the microscopic simulations including proton rescattering.     

Subthreshold K + meson production in proton–nucleus reactions and nucleon spectral function

The inclusive K ⁺ meson production in proton–nucleus collisions in the near threshold and subthreshold energy regimes is analyzed with respect to the one–step (pN→K ⁺ YN, Y=Λ,Σ) and two–step (pN→NNπ, NN2π; πN→K ⁺ Y) incoherent production processes on the basis of an appropriate new folding model, which takes properly into account the struck target nucleon removal energy and momentum distribution (nucleon spectral function), extracted from recent quasielastic electron scattering experiments and from many–body calculations with realistic models of the NN interaction. Comparison of the model calculations of the K ⁺ total and double differential cross sections for the reaction p+C ¹² with the existing experimental data is given, illustrating both the relative role of the primary and secondary production channels at considered incident energies and those features of the cross sections which are sensitive to the high momentum and high removal energy part of the nucleon spectral function that is governed by nucleon–nucleon short–range and tensor correlations. It is found that the in–medium modifications of the available for pion and kaon production invariant energies squared due to the respective optical potentials are needed to account for considered experimental data. Received: 2 April 1997 / Revised version: 7 August 1997     

SubthresholdK + production on nuclei byπ + mesons

The inclusiveK ⁺ mesons production inπ ⁺-nucleus reactions in the subthreshold energy regime is analyzed with respect to the one-step (π ⁺ n→K ⁺ Λ) and the two-step (π ⁺ n→ηp ₁,ηp ₂→K ⁺ Λ) incoherent production processes on the basis of an appropriate folding model, which allows one to take into account the various forms of an internal nucleon momentum distribution as well as on- and off-shell propagation of the struck target nucleon. Contrary to proton-nucleus reactions primary reaction channel is found to be significant practically at all considered energies. Detailed predictions for theK ⁺ total and invariant differential cross sections fromπ ⁺C¹²- andπ ⁺Pb²⁰⁸-collisions at subthreshold energies are provided.     

Antikaon production and medium effects in proton-nucleus reactions at subthreshold beam energies

Inclusive K ^?-meson production in proton-nucleus collisions in the subthreshold-energy regime is analyzed within an appropriate folding model for incoherent primary proton-nucleon and secondary pion-nucleon production processes, which takes properly into account the struck-target-nucleon momentum and removal-energy distribution (nucleon spectral function), novel elementary cross sections for proton-nucleon reaction channels close to threshold, as well as nuclear mean-field potential effects on the one-step and two-step antikaon-creation processes. A detailed comparison of the model calculations of the K ^? differential cross sections for the reactions p+⁹Be and p+⁶³Cu at subthreshold energies with the first experimental data obtained at the ITEP proton synchrotron is given. It displays both the relative role of the primary and secondary production channels at incident energies considered and the contributions to K ^? production that come from the use of the single-particle part and high-momentum-energy part of the nucleon spectral function. It is found that the pion-nucleon production channel does not dominate in the subthreshold “hard” antikaon production in p ⁹Be and p ⁶³Cu collisions and that the main contributions to the antikaon yields here come from the direct K ^?-production mechanism. The influence of the nucleon, kaon, and antikaon mean-field potentials on the K ^? yield is explored. It is shown that the effect of the nucleon mean field is of importance in explaining the considered experimental data on “hard” antikaon production, whereas the K ⁺ andK ^? optical potentials play a minor role. The sensitivity of subthreshold “soft” antikaon production in p ⁹Be reactions to the nucleon, kaon, and antikaon mean fields is studied. It is demonstrated that, contrary to the case of “hard” antikaon production, the K ^? potential has a very strong effect on the K ^? yield, which is comparable with that from the nucleon effective potential.     

Subthreshold and near threshold K+ meson photoproduction\newline on nuclei

The inclusive K⁺ meson production in photon–induced reactions in the near threshold and subthreshold energy regimes is analyzed with respect to the one–step (γN→K ⁺ Y, Y=Λ,Σ) incoherent production processes on the basis of an appropriate new folding model, which takes properly into account the struck target nucleon removal energy and internal momentum distribution (nucleon spectral function), extracted from recent quasielastic electron scattering experiments and from many–body calculations with realistic models of the NN interaction. Simple parametrizations for the total and differential cross sections of the K⁺ production in photon–nucleon collisions are presented. Comparison of the model calculations of the K⁺ differential cross sections for the reaction γ+C¹² in the threshold region with the existing experimental data is given, that displays the contributions to the K⁺ production at considered incident energies coming from the use of the single–particle part as well as high momentum and high removal energy part of the nucleon spectral function. Detailed predictions for the K⁺ total and differential cross sections from γH², γC¹² and γPb²⁰⁸ reactions at subthreshold and near threshold energies are provided. The influence of the uncertainties in the elementary K⁺ production cross sections on the K⁺ yield is explored. Received: 12 April 1999 / Revised version: 11 September 1999     

Subthreshold <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript>-meson production in proton-nucleus reactions revisited

The inclusive K^?-meson production in proton-nucleus collisions in the subthreshold energy regime is studied in the framework of an appropriate spectral function approach for incoherent primary proton-nucleon and secondary pion-nucleon production processes, which takes properly into account the nuclear mean-field potential effects on these processes as well as the final state interaction (FSI) among the outgoing nucleons participating in the one-step antikaon creation process. A detailed comparison of the model calculations of the K^? differential cross sections is given for the reactions p + ⁹Be, p + ⁶³Cu, and p + ¹⁹⁷Au at subthreshold energies with the currently available experimental data obtained recently at the ITEP proton synchrotron and at SIS/GSI. It is found that the calculations with inclusion of the influence of both the nuclear density-dependent mean-field potentials and the elementary NN-FSI effects on the K^? production from direct mechanism are able to reproduce, contrary to previous estimates based on the use only of the density-dependent mean fields in calculating the K^? yield from this mechanism, the energy dependences of the invariant differential cross sections for “hard” antikaon creation in p⁹Be and p⁶³Cu collisions. It is further shown that the NN-FSI effects play a minor role in describing the data on the spectrum of relatively soft K^? mesons from p¹⁹⁷Au interactions at incident energy of 2.5 GeV. It is also shown that the relative strength of the proton-and pion-induced reaction channels in the subthreshold energy regime is governed by the kinematics of the experiment under consideration. The influence of the nucleon, kaon, and antikaon mean-field potentials on the K^? yield is explored. It is demonstrated that, in line with previous findings, the K^? optical potential has a strong effect on this yield at low antikaon momenta, which is greater than those from nucleon and kaon effective potentials. At high antikaon momenta, the K^? yield is found to be mainly determined, along with the elementary NN-FSI effects, by the nucleon mean field and the scenario with zero K⁺ potential is favorable.     

Energy dependence of the cross sections for the e<Superscript>+</Superscript>e<Superscript>–</Superscript> → hadrons process near the production threshold for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">N̄</Emphasis> pair

The energy dependence of the cross sections for the processes e⁺e^? → π⁺π^?π⁰, K⁺K^?, ηπ⁺π^?, ωπ₀, and K⁺K^?π⁺π^? is studied near the production threshold for a nucleon–antinucleon pair. It is shown that, within the measurement errors, the cross sections in question behave smoothly in this energy region.     

Regge pole model for invariant functions. IV

TheNN→NN andγN→πN differential cross sections for polarized targets are discussed in terms of invariant functions. In former fits of high energy experimental data certain of these invariant functions came out to be small. Based on these fits thepn→np,p¯p→ n¯n, γp→ nπ ⁺ andγn→ pπ ^? differential cross sections are predicted to be independent of the target polarization.     

Phenomenological model for describing pion-pair production on a proton by virtual photons in the energy region of nucleon-resonance excitation

A phenomenological model is developed for describing the production of π ⁺ π ^? pairs on a proton by virtual photons in the energy region of nucleon-resonance excitation.The cross sections are calculated for the channels γp → π ^?Δ⁺⁺, γp → π ⁺Δ⁰, and γp → ρp, which make a dominant contribution to pion-pair production, and the results are compared with available experimental data.The contributions of nucleon resonances to the cross section for the reaction γp → π ^?Δ⁺⁺ are predicted within the developed approach.     

Heavy meson production in proton-nucleus reactions with empirical spectral functions

We study the production of K ⁺, ρ, ω and ? mesons in p ⁺¹² C reactions on the basis of empirical spectral functions. The high momentum, high removal energy part of the spectral function is found to be negligible in all cases close to the absolute threshold. Furthermore, the two-step process (pN → π N N; π N → N + K ⁺, ρ,ω,?) dominates the cross section at threshold energies in line with earlier calculations based on the folding model.     

Differential cross sections for photoemission of deuterons from the nitrogen nucleus

Momentum distributions for inclusive photoemission of deuterons from nitrogen have been measured at laboratory angles of 43° and 50°, and for maximum energies of the bremsstrahlung photon beam of 725, 775 and 825 MeV. The double differential cross sections of deuterons emitted from nitrogen are obtained for photon energies of 750 and 800 MeV and for laboratory angles of 43° and 50°. The photon energy is determined by the photon subtraction method. Results are examined by a π⁰ photoproduction process off a quasi-deuteron in nitrogen (γ″d″→π⁰d) and by a two-step process. The two-step process means the following: first, a nucleon is produced by a photo-pion production process from a quasi-free nucleon in the nitrogen nucleus (γ″N″→πN); second, the nucleon produced at the first step picks up another nucleon in the nucleus and then a deuteron is emitted (N+A→d+anything).     

K + production in proton-nucleus collision

We present a dynamical study ofK ⁺ production in proton-nucleus collisions from 1.2 to 2.5 GeV bombarding energy. The evolution of the proton-nucleus collision is described by a transport equation of the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck type. We incorporate all known sources forK ⁺ production and study their momentum and angular distributions, and the excitation function. We show that at lower energies (E _b<1.5 GeV) theNΔ andNN* channels dominate the kaon yield for light systems. At higher bombarding energies the directNN channel accounts for almost the whole cross section.     

Measurement of the cross sections for <Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript> production in <Emphasis Type="Italic">pp</Emphasis> collisions at energies below 1 GeV

The cross sections for the reaction pp → ppπ ⁺ π ^? are measured at several values of the incident-proton energy. The resulting values are compared with other results, including values obtained previously for a deuteriumtarget, as well as with the predictions of a theoreticalmodel. This comparison reveals that, at energies below 850 MeV, the use of the impulse approximation in extracting the cross sections for double pion production on a free nucleon from data obtained with deuteron targets is illegitimate.     

Antikaon production and medium effects in proton-nucleus reactions at subthreshold beam energies

The inclusive K ^--meson production in proton-nucleus collisions in the subthreshold energy regime is analyzed in the framework of an appropriate folding model for incoherent primary proton-nucleon and secondary pion-nucleon production processes, which takes properly into account the struck target nucleon momentum and removal energy distribution (nucleon spectral function), novel elementary cross-sections for proton-nucleon reaction channel close to threshold as well as nuclear mean-field potential effects on the one-step and two-step antikaon creation processes. A detailed comparison of the model calculations of the K ^- differential cross-sections for the reactions p + ⁹Be and p + ⁶³Cu at subthreshold energies with the first experimental data obtained at the ITEP proton synchrotron is given, that displays both the relative role of the primary and secondary production channels at considered incident energies and the contributions to the K ^- production coming from the use of the single-particle part as well as high-momentum-energy part of the nucleon spectral function. It is found that the pion-nucleon production channel does not dominate in the subthreshold “hard” antikaon production in p ⁹Be-, p ⁶³Cu-collisions and the main contributions to the antikaon yields here come from the direct K ^- production mechanism. The influence of the nucleon, kaon and antikaon mean-field potentials on the K ^- yield is explored. It is shown that the effect of the nucleon mean-field is of importance in explaining the considered experimental data on “hard” antikaon production, whereas the K ⁺ and K ^- optical potentials play a minor role. The sensitivity of the subthreshold “soft” antikaon production in p ⁹Be-, p ¹²C-reactions to the nucleon, kaon and antikaon mean fields is studied. It is demonstrated that, contrary to the case of “hard” antikaon production, the K ^- potential has a very strong effect on the K ^- yield, which is greater than that from nucleon effective potential. Received: 20 July 2000 / Accepted: 4 December 2000     

Chiral anomaly in Kγ → Kπ reactions

Implications of the chiral anomaly for the cross sections of the reactions K ⁺γ → K ⁺π⁰, K ⁰γ → K ⁰π⁰, K ⁺γ → K ⁰π⁺, and K ⁰γ → K ⁺π^? are investigated. Near the threshold, the contribution of the chiral anomaly dominates the cross sections for the first and the second reaction. These cross sections are compared with the cross sections for the third and the fourth reaction, which receive no contribution from the chiral anomaly. Prospects for an experimental study of the KKπγ vertex in the Coulomb production of π mesons by a K-meson beam are discussed.     

K<Superscript>+</Superscript> production in proton-nucleus reactions and the role of momentum-dependent potentials

The production of K⁺-mesons in proton-nucleus collisions from 1.0 to 2.5GeV is analyzed with respect to one-step nucleon-nucleon ( NN → NYK ⁺) and two-step Δ-nucleon ( ΔN → K ⁺ YN) or pion-nucleon ( πN → K ⁺ Y) production channels on the basis of a coupled-channel transport approach (CBUU) including the kaon final-state interactions. The influence of momentum-dependent potentials for the nucleon, hyperon and kaon in the final state are studied as well as the importance of K⁺ elastic rescattering in the target nucleus. The transport calculations are compared to the experimental K⁺ spectra taken at LBL Berkeley, SATURNE, CELSIUS, GSI and COSY-Jülich. It is found that the momentum-dependent baryon potentials affect the excitation function of the K⁺ cross-section; at low bombarding energies of ∼ 1.0GeV the attractive baryon potentials in the final state lead to a relative enhancement of the kaon yield, whereas the net repulsive potential at bombarding energies ∼ 2GeV causes a decrease of the K⁺ cross-section. Furthermore, it is pointed out that especially the K⁺ spectra at low momenta (or kinetic energy T _K) allow to determine the in-medium K⁺ potential almost model independently due to a relative shift of the K⁺ spectra in kinetic energy that arises from the acceleration of the kaons when propagating out of the nuclear medium to free space, i.e. converting the potential energy to the kinetic energy of the free kaon. Received: 28 January 2002 / Accepted: 3 June 2002 / Published online: 19 November 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: Wolfgang.Cassing@theo.physik.uni-giessen.de Communicated by P. Schuck     

Strange particle production in three- and four-body final states of 16 GeV/cπ±p reactions

Three- and four-body final states with strange particles are studied in π⁺p and π^?p interactions at 16 GeV/c. We present cross sections and investigate their energy dependence. Production mechanism, resonance production and quantum number transfer are discussed. Strong Y¹(1385) production is found in the reaction π⁺p → ΛK⁺π⁺, while the corresponding π^?p reaction is dominated by production of K¹(890). In the $\text{NK}\text{K}\text{π}$ channels, the K and $\text{K}$ are produced mainly at the same vertex, i.e. non-strangeness exchange ΔS = 0 is dominant (about 75% of the cases), whereas in the ΛKππ channels, the Λ and K are more frequently produced at opposite vertices, i.e. |ΔS| = 1 exchange is important (about 60% of the cases). Results on the polarization of the lambdas produced in the π⁺p reactions are given.     

Two-nucleon production of hyperons and the search for strange dibaryons

The double charge exchange reaction³He(K^?,π ⁺)Xn was studied at 870 MeV/c. In the X missing mass range below the sigma-nucleon production threshold (2130 MeV/c²), events were detected which can be attributed to the two-nucleon process pp(K^?,π ⁺)λn. This reaction and mass range also offers good prospects for finding theI=1/2,l=1 (¹ P₁) spin-singlet dibaryon D_s suggested as the lowest massS=?1 dibaryon in the MIT Bag Model. Although the existence of the D_s is not ruled out by the present data, there is no need to invoke such an object to account for the observed events below σ production threshold. We show that the cross section level for these events is compatible with a dominant two-nucleon mechanism K^?p→π ⁰λ,π ⁰p →π ⁺n. We also offer an interpretation of the recent (K^?,K⁺) data on nuclear targets from Iijimaet al., which display a broad peak centered around a K⁺ momentum of 600 MeV/c. We find that the two-nucleon mechanism K^?N →πY,πN→K⁺Y produces cross sections which are at least an order of magnitude smaller than those observed, and we suggest that the one nucleon process K^?p →Φλ, followed by the decayΦ → K⁺K^?, accounts for the data.