Neutral strange particle production in high transverse momentum π nucleus interactions at ∼40 GeV/c.

Measurements of K, Λ and $$\bar \Lambda $$ production in π nucleus (C, Cu, Pb) interactions are presented. The experiment was carried out with the streamer chamber spectrometer RISK using a π beam of ∼40 GeV/c and a trigger requiring a secondary charged particle with transverse momentum above 1.1 GeV/c. Production cross sections, relative production rates and distributions of Feynman x and transverse momentum squared as well as correlations between the V and the trigger particle are presented. The results are compared and found to be in agreement with K, Λ and $$\bar \Lambda $$ data from untriggered π p and π C interactions, except for the relative production rate of antilambdas which is about to times larger in high- p collisions. Our results can be well interpreted within the dual topological unitarization model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]