Longitudinal mass and the small K/π ratio in very high energy collisions

Abstract

The same phenomenological parametrization in terms of covariant longitudinal mass which correlates the structure and differences in transverse momentum distributions for p+p→π+(anything) and p+p→p+(anything) is shown also to give a good description of new data for p+p→K 0+(anything). This leads to a natural possibility that the small K/π ratio at very high energies is simply due to the difference in longitudinal masses, which is a consequence of the nearly one-dimensional kinematics introduced by the transverse momentum cut-off together with the fact that the rest masses are split by the sources of SU(3)-symmetry breaking.