Neutral kaon production in K+p interactions at 32 GeV/c

The production of neutral kaons in the reaction K⁺p → Kⁿ + X is studied at the incident momentum of 32 GeV/c. Inclusive cross sections and single-particle distributions are presented and compared with the data at lower energies. The total inclusive cross section amounts to 7.9 ± 0.3 mb at 32 GeV/c and is significantly higher than at lower energies due to the rapid rise of multikaon production. The fraction of Kⁿ's coming from the decay of the K¹ resonances stays roughly constant with energy between 8.2 and 32 GeV/c. In the central and beam fragmentation regions the single-particle distributions reveal no energy dependence between the 16 and 32 GeV/c data in contrast with the behaviour at lower energies, while in the proton fragmentation region the data are compatible with the trend observed at lower energies and with theoretical expectations.