Investigation of the low-mass system in the reactions π±p→(π±K+K−)p at 16 GeV/c

The reactions π±p→(π±K+K−)p are studied, at 16 GeV/c, and in particular the low-mass π±K+K− system is compared with the diffractively produced 3π system in the reactions π±p→(π±π+π−)p at the same energy. Similarities are found in (a) the weak energy dependence of their cross sections, (b) the shape of the three-meson mass spectra, (c) the differential cross sections which have the same slope for the same value of the three-meson invariant mass, (d) the general characteristics of the partial-wave composition of the low-mass three-meson systems (as for the 3π case, the πKK system is produced in unnatural spin-parity states with JP=1+ dominant at low πKK mass, the state JP=0−, however, may be relatively more abundant in the πKK than in the 3π case) and (e) the exchange which is almost entirely of natural parity. We conclude that the reaction π±p→(π±K+K−p, for low values of the πKK mass, represents the diffractive dissociation process π→πKK, which is less probable than π→πππ by one order of magnitude.