Inclusive V production cross sections from 920 GeV fixed target proton-nucleus collisions

Inclusive differential cross sections and for the production of K ⁰ _S , , and particles are measured at HERA in proton-induced reactions on C, Al, Ti, and W targets. The incident beam energy is 920 GeV, corresponding to GeV in the proton-nucleon system. The ratios of differential cross sections (K and are measured to be and , respectively, for x_F . No significant dependence upon the target material is observed. Within errors, the slopes of the transverse momentum distributions also show no significant dependence upon the target material. The dependence of the extrapolated total cross sections on the atomic mass A of the target material is discussed, and the deduced cross sections per nucleon are compared with results obtained at other energies. Received: 16 December 2002 / Revised version: 6 March 2003 / Published online: 11 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a" Supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, FRG, under contract numbers 05-7BU35I, 05-7DO55P, 05 HB1HRA, 05 HB1KHA, 05 HB1PEA, 05 HB1PSA, 05 HB1VHA, 05 HB9HRA, 05 7HD15I, 05 7HH25I, 05 7MP25I, 05 7SI75I