K${}^{+}$-nucleus quasielastic scattering

Abstract

K${}^{+}$--nucleus quasielastic cross sections measured for a laboratory kaon beam momentum of 705 MeV/$c$ are presented for 3--momentum transfers of 300 and 500 MeV/$c$. The measured differential cross sections for C, Ca and Pb at 500 MeV/$c$ are used to deduce the effective number of nucleons participating in the scattering, which are compared with estimates based on the eikonal approximation. The long mean free path expected for K${}^{+}$ mesons in nuclei is found. Double differential cross sections for C and Ca are compared to relativistic nuclear structure calculations.

8 pages University of Colorado Nuclear Physics Lab. Preprint NPL-1098. 2 PostScript figures available on request from J.Shepard at ``[email protected]''