Precision measurements of strangeness photoproduction at threshold energies with the crystal ball at MAMI-C

The photoproduction of K+ mesons from the nucleon provides important constraints on the nucleon excitation spectrum and at threshold energies challenges effective field theories based on chiral perturbation in the strange quark sector. Preliminary cross-section measurements for γ(p,K+)Λ are presented at an unprecedented beam energy resolution. The data was collected at the MAMI-C facility in Mainz using the Crystal Ball Detector. A new method of K+ detection was used in which the K+ is tagged from its weak decay products in the detector crystals. This technique has application with other calorimeters at present and future hadron facilities. (authors)