Hadron and NuclearPhysicswithElectromagneticProbes K. Maruyamaand H. Okuno(Editors) 2000 Elsevier ScienceB.V.All rightsreserved.

101

Kaon photoproduction K. Maeda ~*

on nuclei

a Physics Department, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 9808587, Japan The photoproductions of a A through the 12C(7 , K +) and 3He(7, K ~ reactions were studied near the threshold region. The experimental data were compared with a numerical calculation in terms of the quasifree A photoproduction. The cross sections were also discussed by comparing with the different model predictions. We discuss the use of polarized photon beams for the (7, K) reactions. It enables us to study the elementary kaon photoproduction amplitudes in detail.
1. I N T R O D U C T I O N

Photonuclear reactions associated with a strangeness degree of freedom, such as (-),, K ~ and (7, K+) reactions, leave S = - 1 in nuclei converting a nucleon into a hyperon. A hyperon production in a nucleus provides a unique opportunity to study fundamental information on the nucleon-hyperon and the nucleus-hyperon interactions.J1] They can be studied by use of the quasifree (QF) process and the hyper-nucleus spectroscopy. Until now, these investigations have been done using hadoronic probes. In particular, the (Tr+, K +) reactions have been used extensively to study the production and decay of A-hypernuclei. [2] The A-producing (7, K+) and (7, K ~ reactions are believed to be complementary to the hadoronic reaction. [3] The dominance of the spin-flip amplitudes in (7, K) near threshold region enables us to study the spin dependent behavior of a A in nuclear potential. Since the mean free path of 3' in nuclear medium is much longer than any hadrons, we can probe A in nuclei with less distortion. In spite of the importance of (7, K) measurements on nuclear targets, suitable 7 beams have not been available. High duty and high intensity ~/ beams in GeV-region are required to study the A photoproductions because of the small (7, K) cross sections and the requirements of the photon tagging. In this article, we describe the 12C(7 , K +) and 3He(7 , K ~ data near the threshold region. These measurements are the first observation of the K + and K ~ photoproduction on nuclei using the tagged photon beam. The experimental data will be introduced and compared with theoretical interpretations. Finally, we notice the importance of the detailed study of the elementary kaon production amplitudes, which can be investigated by using the polarized photon beams. They can be done at the Laser-Electron-Photon facility at SPring8.[4] They will give us a complete data set for the elementary (7, K) reaction amplitudes. *E-mail: maeda@mail.cc.tohoku.ac.jp

102 2. T A G X E X P E R I M E N T S 2.1. /4 + p h o t o p r o d u c t i o n at T A G X

Differential cross section for reaction. TAGX data were compared with the elementary cross section and the numerical estimates in terms of the quasifree process.

Figure

1.

12C('),,/(+)

Figure 2. Missing mass distribution for 12C(~, K +) reaction in the photon energy range of 1 . 0 - 1.1 GeV. Lines represent the results of the Monte Carlo calculation. The arrow indicates the mass of the k2B ground states.

The 12C(~, K +) reaction was carried out using the TAGX spectrometer[5] at the 1.3GeV Tokyo Electron Synchrotron Laboratory. [6] The incident photon energy range was E~ = 0 . 7 8 - 1.1 GeV. The charged particle events were momentum analyzed from the hits of Si-Strip Counters and Cylindrical Drift Chambers in the magnetic field. The timing and triggering counters were inner- and outer-scintillation-counter hodoscopes, and a time-offlight wall. They covered the angular ranges of 10 to 40 degrees on the left-hand side and 0 to 30 degrees on the right-hand side. A typical momentum resolution was 6% for protons of 0.4 GeV/c. Figure 1 shows the obtained differential cross section. Solid squares show the TAGX data compared with an average of the elementary cross sections multiplied by a factor of four. Thick curves show the Monte Carlo calculations, in which the QF process is assumed. The proton momentum distribution were taken from the 12C(e, e'p) data[7]. The dot-dashed curves represent the contributions of two protons in the p shell and four protons in the s shell, respectively. The thick solid line shows the sum of these two contributions. We can understand that the nuclear Fermi motion causes the K + yield to rise more slowly near the threshold than the elementary process. Figure 2 is the missing mass distribution for the kaon events in the energy interval of
1.0 - I.I GeV. The curves show the QF calculation. We can see a broad peak structure centered at 11.55 GeV/c 2. It is reproduced well by the sum of the kaons from p and s

103 shells through the QF process. We find an excess of the data above the QF calculation in the missing mass region below 11.4 GeV/c 2. The bound A states are expected in this region. The integrated differential cross section over this region is 0.21 + 0.05pb/sr. The effective proton number can be interpreted as a number of the participating nucleons in the reaction process. Since a proton changes to a A, the effective nucleon number is replaced by an effective proton number in (7, K+) process. Our result of effective proton number is 4.2 4- 0.6. It suggest the (7, K+) is a useful tool to probe the nuclear interior with less distortion. Theoretical investigations of 12C(7 , K +) have been done in terms of the quasi-free process leading to an unbound A with a three body model, J8,9] and an intranuclear cascade model[10]. Lee et al. [8] predicted both the inclusive and exclusive 12C(7, K +) cross sections by using the recently developed amplitudes[Ill of 7P ~ K+A and wave functions from the relativistic mean-field theory[12]. They obtained 0.19pb/sr for the sum of the cross sections for all bound A states, which is close to the experimental value 0.21 + 0.05pb/sr. The inclusive cross section in the energy region up to E~ = 1.1GeV was calculated based on the three body model. Their numerical estimates are shown in Figure 1. The thin-dotted line is the calculated cross section of the exclusive 12C(7 , K+)~2B. The thin-dashed curve is the cross section of the QF 12C(7 , K +)X process. The thin-solid curve is the sum of these two contributions. The QF A production dominates the (7, K+) process in the threshold region. A reduction factor ~ 2.2 was used to fit the data. It is mainly due to the medium effects on 7, K+ and A. When we use the experimental value of the total 7 N and K + N cross section, the reduction factor become R ~ 1.6. It suggest that the nuclear medium effects on the A propagation in nuclei must be significant. Another numerical approach is an intranuclear cascade model.J10] It describes the 7 + A reactions in the framework of a two-step cascade process. The first step is a rapid process. The intranuclear cascade develops through the binary collisions. The second step is the decay process of the excited nucleus. They include both the meson production channel and multicollisional intranuclear cascade process. The general behavior of the cascade calculation is in good agreement with TAGX data. The subthreshold cross section can be explained by Fermi motion and effective mass of bound nucleons.
2.2. K ~ photoproduction at T A G X

The K ~ photoproduction on3He were measured using the TAGX spectrometer. The invariant mass spectrum constructed from two pion events is shown in Figure 3, where the photon energy range is above the reaction threshold for the elementary K ~ photoproduction and the vertex cut was employed outside of the target cell. We can identify the K ~ signature at ~ 0.5 GeV/c 2 in the invariant mass spectrum. In order to estimate the experimental cross section, the TAGX Monte Carlo was used to determine the detection efficiency.[5] We obtained the cross section a = 0.69#b for K~ photoproduction on 3He. Therefore the a~,/~o becomes to about 1.4pb, which is similar to a~,/~+ at E~ ~,, 1 GeV. The differential cross section is shown in Figure 4. Although the K + cross sections are strongly peaked in forward direction, the TAGX data does not show the forward peaking. It is understood by a lack of the t-channel diagram in the elementary K ~ photoproduction. The curves in Figure 4 are the numerical calculation using a computer code provided

104

Figure 3. Invariant mass spectrum constructed from two pion events. The shadow indicates the K ~ events at M 0.5GeV/c 2.

Figure 4. Differential cross section for aHe(7, K~ Lines show the numerical estimates with different models.

by Sotona.[13] Input parameters for the production amplitudes are obtained from K + photoproduction models.[14-16] It is reported that the predicted (7, K +) cross section using these different models show rather similar behavior in the 1 GeV energy region. In Figure 4, different model predictions denoted by AS1114], C4115] and AW4[16] are compared with experimental data. The numerical values of the (7, K~ cross sections are strongly model dependent in contrast to the K + photoproduction.
3. K A O N P H O T O P R O C U C T I O N WITH POLARIZED PHOTON BEAMS

In the A producing kaon photoproduction, a spin 0 kaon is photoproduced on a spin 1/2 nucleon leading to a spin 1/2 A. There are eight possible spin states in the system. Therefore the elementary kaon photoproduction process can be expressed with four independent amplitudes. The defined experimental observables in (7, K) are differential cross sections, three single polarization asymmetries of P(recoil), E(beam) and T(target), and twelve double polarization asymmetries. It is sufficient to measure eight observables among them to complete the data sets for the analysis of elementary N(3', K)A processes. The Laser-Electron-Photon facility at SPring8 provides almost 100% polarized photon beams.[4] The photon beams are tagged in an enegy range from 1.5 to 2.4 GeV with the energy spread of 15 MeV. The average intensity is 107/see which is limited by the light source operation. A large acceptance charged particle spectrometer will be completed in 2000. In this condition, we have a chance to measure the elementary A producing kaon photoproduction observables, da/dFt, P, E and T in an energy range of E~ = 1 . 5 - 2.4 GeV. It must be the most important information to study the kaon photoproduction on nuclei.

105

4. S U M M A R Y

We measured the differential cross sections of the 12C(~/, K +) and 3He(7, K ~ reaction in the threshold region at 1.3-GeV Tokyo electron synchrotron laboratory. The 12C(7, K +) cross sections are compared with numerical estimates and theoretical interpretations. We found that the accurate study of the elementary (7, K) process and nuclear medium effects of 7, kaons, A propagation must be important for the future investigation of kaon photoproduction on nuclei. We noted that the measurements of the spin observables in (7, K) is very effective to understand the kaon photoproduction. They can be done at new Laser-Backward-Compton facility in the near future. They will give us important information to study the A-nucleus interaction and the structure of the A-hypernuclei.
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