Photoproduction of $K^{+}{K}^{-}$ meson pairs on the proton

Abstract

The exclusive reaction ${\hat{I}}^{3}p\to p{K}^{+}{K}^{-}$ was studied in the photon energy range $3.0 - 3.8 \mbox{ GeV}$ and momentum transfer range $0.6<-t<1.3 \mbox{ GeV}^2$. Data were collected with the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. In this kinematic range the integrated luminosity was approximately 20 pb${}^{-1}$. The reaction was isolated by detecting the $K^{+}$ and the proton in CLAS, and reconstructing the $K^{-}$ via the missing-mass technique. Moments of the di-kaon decay angular distributions were extracted from the experimental data. Besides the dominant contribution of the $\ddot{I}•$ meson in the $P$-wave, evidence for $S-P$ interference was found. The differential production cross sections $d\ddot{I}ƒ/dt$ for individual waves in the mass range of the $\ddot{I}•$ resonance were extracted and compared to predictions of a Regge-inspired model. This is the first time the $t$-dependent cross section of the $S$-wave contribution to the elastic $K^{+}{K}^{-}$ photoproduction has been measured.

arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0907.1021