Observation of centrally produced (1720) in the reaction at 300 GeV/c

The K + K − and K S 0 K S 0 systems centrally produced in the reaction pp→p f K K p s have been studied at 300 GeV/ c incident momentum. Both the K + K − and the K S 0 K S 0 mass spectra show large resonant production. For the first time in hadron collisions, clear evidence is found for the θ f 2 (1720) with parameters m =1713±10 MeV, Γ =181±30 MeV for the K + K − decay mode and m =1706±10 MeV, Γ =104±30 MeV for the K S 0 K S 0 decay mode. A spin analysis of the K + K − spectrum shows that for the θ f 2 (1720) J P =2 + is strongly favoured while 0 + and 1 − are excluded.