$K_S^0$ meson production in inelastic $\text{p+p}$ interactions at 158 GeV/c beam momentum measured by NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS

Abstract

The production of $K_S^0$ mesons in inelastic $\text{p+p}$ collisions at beam momentum 158 GeV/c ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}=17.3$ GeV) was measured with the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Double-differential distributions were obtained in transverse momentum and rapidity. The mean multiplicity of $K_S^0$ was determined to be $0.162\pm 0.001(stat.)\pm 0.011(sys.)$. The results on $K_S^0$ production are compared with model predictions (EPOS 1.99, SMASH 2.0, PHSD and UrQMD 3.4 models) as well as with published world data.