Higher statistics investigon of K/sub s/0K- decay of the A2- produced by 23-GeV/c π- on hydrogen

Using the BNL Mkl Spectrometer, 3346 new events of the type π-p → K0/sub s/K- + p in the effective mass range M(K0/sub s/K-) = 1.1 to 1.5 GeV were obtained and analyzed. The K0/sub s/K- effective mass spectrum shows a single peak in the A2 mass region which is well fitted by a D-wave Breit--Wigner shape. The data in the A2 peak region agree with previous results and rule out conclusively (greater than 7.9 standard deviations) the split A2 shape reported earlier by other investigators. The background level is approximately 10 to 20 percent. Total and differential cross section measurements were made at 22.4 and 23.9 GeV/c. The parameterization d sigma/dt' α - t'e/sup bt'/ describes the differential cross section data with the parameter b = 7.0 +- .2 (GeV/c)-2. The momentum dependence of the cross sections for the reaction was obtained using this data and the data from other experiments. The A2 decay angular distribution was measured in the Gottfried--Jackson frame for the K0K- decay mode of the A2-. The angular distribution may be explained by a dominant exchange of natural spin parity vector mesons (i.e., rho0 and f0) in the production process. The A2 angular distributions are consistent with those of a single resonance with a J/sup P/ = 2+