Abstract
A theoretical study documenting the probing sensitivity of the K/sup +/ meson to the neutron distribution is reported for /sup 40/Ca and /sup 48/Ca isotopes. Combining Hartree-Fock and phenomenological neutron densities with two independent empirical sets of kaon-nucleon amplitudes, different first-order microscopic kaon-nucleus optical potentials are constructed and compared. The sensitivity of predicted elastic cross sections to choice in potential is found to be significant and is dominated by the uncertainty in the K/sup +/-neutron interaction. For relative cross section differences between Ca isotopes, however, the sensitivity to the neutron distribution is roughly comparable to the uncertainty introduced by the KN interaction, suggesting that preliminary K/sup +/-nucleus measurements may provide improved neutron information about isotopic density differences. Conditions and prescriptions for extracting such information are discussed.
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