Charged lepton induced one kaon production off the nucleon

Abstract

We study single kaon production off the nucleon induced by electrons (positrons) i.e. $e^{-}(e^{+})+N\to \hat{I}{½}_e(\bar{\hat{I}}{½}_e)+\bar{K}(K)+N^{\prime }$ at low energies. The possibility of observing these processes with the high luminosity beams available at TJNAF and Mainz is discussed, taking into account that the strangeness conserving electromagnetic reactions have a higher energy threshold for $\bar{K}(K)$ production. The calculations are done using a microscopic model that starts from the SU(3) chiral Lagrangians, includes background terms and the resonant mechanisms associated to the lowest lying resonance $\hat{I}{\pounds }^{\ast }(1385)$.

15 pages and 7 figures