Regge-plus-resonance predictions for charged-kaon photoproduction from the deuteron

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Proeftuinstraat 86, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

^a e-mail: Pieter.Vancraeyveld@UGent.be

Abstract

We present a Regge-inspired effective-Lagrangian framework for charged-kaon photoproduction from the deuteron. Quasi-free kaon production is investigated using the Regge-plus-resonance elementary operator within the non-relativistic plane-wave impulse approximation. The Regge-plus-resonance model was developed to describe photoinduced and electroinduced kaon production off protons and can be extended to strangeness production off neutrons. The non-resonant contributions to the amplitude are modelled in terms of K⁺ (494) and K*⁺ (892) Regge-trajectory exchange in the t-channel. This amplitude is supplemented with a selection of s-channel resonance-exchange diagrams. We investigate several sources of theoretical uncertainties on the semi-inclusive charged-kaon production cross section. The experimental error bars on the photocoupling helicity amplitudes turn out to put severe limits on the predictive power when considering quasi-free kaon production on a bound neutron.