A Study of Leading Strange Meson Resonances And Spin-Orbit Splittings in K<sup>-</sup>p → K<sup>-</sup>π<sup>+</sup>n at 11 GeV/c [Thesis

Abstract

The results from a high-statistics study of K..pi.. elastic scattering in the reaction K/sup -/p ..-->.. K/sup -/..pi../sup +/n are presented. The data for this analysis are taken from an 11-GeV/c K/sup -/p experiment performed on the Large Aperture Solenoidal Spectrometer (LASS) facility at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). By selecting the very forward produced K/sup -/..pi../sup +/ events, a sample consisting of data for the K..pi.. ..-->.. K..pi.. elastic scattering reaction was extracted. The angular distribution for this meson-meson scattering is studied by use of both a spherical harmonic moments analysis and a partial-wave analysis (PWA). The previously established leading natural spin-parity strange meson resonances (the J/sup P/ = 1/sup -/ K*(895), the 2/sup +/ K*(1430), and the 3/sup -/ K*(1780)) are observed in the results from both the moments analysis and the PWA. In addition, evidence for a new spin 4/sup -/ K* resonance with a mass of 2080 MeV and a width of about 225 MeV is presented. The results from the PWA confirm the existence of a 0/sup +/ kappa (1490) and propose the existence of a second scalar meson resonance, the 0/sup +/ kappa' (1900). Structure in the P-wave amplitude indicates resonance behavior inmore » the mass region near 1700 MeV. In two of the four ambiguous solutions for the mass region above 1800 MeV, there is strong evidence for another P-wave resonant structure near 2100 MeV. The observed strange meson resonances are found to have a natural interpretation in terms of states predicted by the quark model. In particular, the mass splittings of the leading trajectory natural spin-parity strange meson states and the mass splittings between the spin-orbit triplet states are discussed. 59 figures, 17 tables.« less