Multiplicities of charged kaons from deep-inelastic muon scattering off an isoscalar target

C. Adolph (1) , V. Andrieux (2) , Y. Bedfer (2) , L. Capozza (2) , Q. Curiel (2) , E. Fuchey (2) , A. Ferrero (2) , N. d'Hose (2) , F. Kunne (2) , M. Levillain (2) , D. Neyret (2) , S. Platchkov (2) , E. Seder (2, 3) , F. Thibaud (2) , M. Meyer (2) , N. Pierre (2) , O.Yu. Denisov (3, 4) , G.K. Mallot (3)

1 Physikalisches Institut [Erlangen]
2 DPHN - Département de Physique Nucléaire (ex SPhN)
3 CERN [Genève]
4 Universidade de Aveiro

Precise measurements of charged-kaon multiplicities in deep inelastic scattering were performed. The results are presented in three-dimensional bins of the Bjorken scaling variable x, the relative virtual-photon energy y, and the fraction z of the virtual-photon energy carried by the produced hadron. The data were obtained by the COMPASS Collaboration by scattering 160 GeV muons off an isoscalar LiD target. They cover the kinematic domain 1 (GeV/c)$^2$ < Q$^2$ < 60 (GeV/c)$^2$ in the photon virtuality, 0.004 < x < 0.4, 0.1 < y < 0.7, 0.20 < z < 0.85, and W > 5 GeV/c$^2$ in the invariant mass of the hadronic system. The results from the sum of the z-integrated K+ and K- multiplicities at high x point to a value of the non-strange quark fragmentation function larger than obtained by the earlier DSS fit.

Keywords: Deep inelastic scattering; Kaon multiplicities; Quark fragmentation functions; Strange quark

Domains: Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]

C. Adolph, V. Andrieux, Y. Bedfer, L. Capozza, Q. Curiel, et al.. Multiplicities of charged kaons from deep-inelastic muon scattering off an isoscalar target. Physics Letters B, 2017, 767, pp.133-141. ⟨10.1016/j.physletb.2017.01.053⟩. ⟨cea-01535725⟩