Study of the Low Energy Dynamics in the ppK+K- System with the COSY-11 Magnetic Spectrometer

The near threshold production of K+K- pairs in proton - proton collisions has been investigated at the cooler synchrotron COSY below and above the threshold for the φ meson. The experimental excitation function determined for the pp → ppK+K- reaction differs from theoretical expectations including proton - proton final state interaction. The discrepancy may be assigned to the influence of K+K- or pK- interaction. In this article we present distributions of the cross-section for the pp → ppK+K- reaction as a function of the invariant masses of two and three particle subsystems at excess energies of Q = 10 MeV and 28 MeV. (author)