Total branching ratio of the K− two-nucleon absorption in 12C

Abstract

This work is a critical re-analysis of the results obtained by the AMADEUS collaboration, concerning the measurement of the K− multi-nucleon absorption reactions, on a 12C target, in the Λp final state (Del Grande et al 2019 Eur. Phys. J. C 79, 190). We show that a good estimate of the K− two-nucleon absorption total branching ratio can be extracted, given that the measured final state interactions and conversion reactions contain information on almost all the remaining hyperon-nucleon final state combinations. The main contribution to the total branching ratio of the K− two-nucleon absorption in Carbon is extracted from the measured ratios and is found to be , which is in agreement with recent theoretical predictions. The missing contribution, from those few channels for which a Λp pair could not be detected in the final state of the interaction, is also estimated combining both the measured branching ratios and the available theoretical information, and amounts to . All together the total branching ratio of the K− two-nucleon absorption in Carbon is found to be