Inclusive production of K̄1(890) and K̄1(1420) in K̄−p interactions at 10 and 16 GeV/c

The inclusive production of K?¹(890) and K?¹(1420) is studied in K?^?p interactions at 10 and 16 GeV/c. At 10 GeV/c an enhancement in the ($\text{K}\text{?}{}^0\text{π}{}^{\mathrm{?}}$) mass distribution is found at 1.74 GeV, but no clear signal is seen at 16 GeV/c. The fraction of $\text{K}{}^0\text{'}\text{s}$ coming from decay of the $\text{K}{}^1\text{(890)}\text{or}\text{K}{}^1\text{(1420)}$ is large, being (50 ± 6)% and (45 ± 5)% at 10 and 16 GeV/c, respectively. The inclusive cross sections for K^1?(890) and $\text{K}{}^{10}\text{(890)}$ production are almost constant with energy from 8 to 32 GeV/c with values of 3.5 and 3.3 mb, respectively. The $\text{K}{}^1\text{(890)}$ production cross section is studied as a function of transverse and longitudinal variables and found to derive mainly from fragmentation of the incident K^? meson. The spectra of $\text{K}{}^0\text{'}\text{s}$ resulting from the decay of $\text{K}{}^1\text{(890)}$ are studied.