Strange-particle production in antiproton annihilation on nuclei at low energies

Abstract

The experimental data on the Λ- and KS0-meson production in antiproton annihilation of nuclei at low energies (EEp<200 MeV) are analysed in order to understand if there is some additional (in comparison to thepp case) production of strange particles in antiproton-nucleus annihilation. We conclude that simple rescattering of annihilation mesons suffices to ensure a significant Λ-production yield even in the low-energy region essentially below the\(\Lambda \bar \Lambda \)-threshold. No enhancement of strangeness production inpA annihilation exists; on the contrary, one may speculate on the suppression of strangeness production in the case ofp annihilation in4He,14N and Ne gases. The main source of the abundant hyperon production is the rescattering of annihilation kaons. The rescattering scheme is capable of satisfactory reproduction of the yield of semi-inclusive annihilation channels with two strange particles in the final state.