Photoproduction of Positive K Mesons in Hydrogen

Author: Donoho, Paul Leighton

Year: 1958

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisor: Walker, Robert Lee

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Physics; Mathematics

DOI: 10.7907/7E23-FM47

Abstract

NOTE: Text or symbols not renderable in plain ASCII are indicated by [...]. Abstract is included in .pdf document.

In the experiment described here K+ mesons produced in a liquid hydrogen target by the 1100 Mev bremsstrahlung from the California Institute of Technology Synchrotron have been observed. It has been found that the K+ mesons are produced in association with [...] hyperons, as required by the law of associated production, thus confirming the validity of this law in electromagnetic interactions. The K+ mesons are momentum analyzed in a magnetic spectrometer and identified by their energy loss in three scintillation counters, the very large background due to pions and protons being virtually eliminated by means of a time-of-flight velocity measurement. The differential cross section for the reaction [...] has been measured at photon energies of 960 Mev, 1000 Mev, and 1060 Mev at various K+ meson laboratory angles between 15 degrees and 45 degrees. This cross section shows little variation with photon energy between 960 Mev and 1060 Mev. There is a decrease in the cross section at backward center-of-momentum angles at both 1000 Mev and 1060 Mev. The magnitude of the K - [...] coupling constant estimated from these measurements is smaller by a factor of about five than the pion-nucleon coupling constant, if the K+ meson is assumed to be pseudoscalar.

Files