A measurement of the kaon charge radius

Abstract

The negative kaon electromagnetic form factor has been measured in the space-like q 2 range 0.015–0.10 (GeV/ c ) 2 by the direct scattering of 250 GeV kaons from electrons at the CERN SPS. It is found that the kaon mean square charge radius 〈 r 2 K 〉 = 0.34 ± 0.05 fm 2 . From data collected simultaneously for πe scattering, the difference between the charged pion and kaon mean square radii (which is less sensitive to systematic errors) is found to be 〈 r 2 π 〉 − 〈 r 2 K = 0.1 0 ± 0.045 fm 2 .