Electroproduction of forwardΛbaryons

Abstract

We report measurements of the inclusive electroproduction reaction $e+p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}e+\ensuremath{\Lambda}+\mathrm{anything}$ for $\ensuremath{\Lambda}'\mathrm{s}$ produced along and near the direction of the virtual photon. The measurements cover the kinematic range $2.1<W<3.55$ GeV, $0.1<{Q}^{2}<1.5$ Ge${\mathrm{V}}^{2}$, $0<{{p}_{T}}^{2}<1.2$ ${\mathrm{GeV}}^{2}$, and $0<{x}^{\ensuremath{'}}<1$. The ${Q}^{2}$, $W$, ${{p}_{T}}^{2}$, and ${x}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ dependence of the invariant structure function is similar to that observed for forward protons. It is independent of ${Q}^{2}$, decreases with an increase of ${x}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, and shows a weak dependence on ${{p}_{T}}^{2}$.