K+ΛPhotoproduction from Hydrogen at 1200 MeV

Abstract

Measurements of the angular distribution of the cross section for the photoproduction of the $K^{+}\Lambda$ system from hydrogen have been made in the c.m. angular interval from 15° to 85° at a photon energy of 1200 MeV. The reaction was identified by detecting the $K^{+}$ mesons with a magnet spectrometer and a velocity selection system consisting of two Čerenkov counters. The angular distribution at this energy is very similar to that at lower energies in that it is peaked forward and is easily fit with a quadratic in ${cos\theta }_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.\mathrm{}}$. Special emphasis was placed on the forward direction in an attempt to find evidence for the one-$K$-exchange pole. A Taylor-Moravcsik analysis of the data is presented, but the results are inconclusive.