Resonance behavior of a K S K S system near the mass 1775 MeV

Abstract

The preliminary results of an investigation of a system of two K S mesons in the mass interval 1600–1950 MeV are reported. The events were obtained on a 6-m magnetic spark spectrometer at ITEP in π − p interactions at 40 GeV, using a neutral trigger which suppressed both charged particles and γ rays. A peak of width ≃30 MeV with statistical significance not lower than six standard deviations is observed with momentum transfer selection |tu|0.23 GeV2 near the mass 1775 MeV of the K S K S system. The observed phenomena can be interpreted as the existence of one resonance with the indicated parameters, or two narrower resonances. In the latter case, their masses are 1768±1.5 and 1787±1.5 MeV. The widths of these states are comparable to the mass resolution of the spectrometer (∼5 MeV). Estimates of the product σ ⋅BR(K S K S ) give ∼1.5 and 2.5 nb, respectively, for the first and second states.