Slow proton and Δ production in K p interactions at 70 GeV/c.

The inclusive inelastic processes K p→ pX and K p→ Δ X are studied at an incident momentum of 70 GeV/c. The data comes from the Big European Bubble Chamber BEBC filled with hydrogen, exposed to an rf reparated K beam at the CERN SPS accelerator. The inclusive cross section for protons with laboratory momentum p≦1.2 GeV/c is equal to (6.1±0.1) mb. Inclusive Δ-production is studied for | t|<1.0(GeV/c). Comparisons are made with other K p data and with pp data at 69 GeV/c. Evidence is found for Pomeron exchange at the beam vertex both for slow proton and Δ-production as well as for absorptive pion exchange at the ( p, Δ) vertex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]