Inclusive production of lambda in the proton fragmentation region from K^-p→ΛX at 4.2 GeV/c

Abstract

A study of Λ production has been made for the process p→^K-Λ from K^-p interactions at 4.2 GeV/c. The total Λ production cross-section is (4.5±0.2) mb and the cross-section in which Λ is associated with KK^- in the final state is found to be (0.44±0.03) mb. A study of the polarization is made for the off-mass-shell strangeness annihilations <<KK^->>→pions and strangeness nonannihilations <<KK^->>→+KK^-pions; the polarization, when plotted as a function of x,p _T and (recoiling mass)², exhibits differences between the two processes. The polarization observed in the strangeness nonannihilation process shows identical behaviour to that in pp^- reactions. An attempt has been made to understand the behaviour of the polarized and the unpolarized cross-sections as a function of (recoiling mass)² in the triple-Regge framework.