Interaction of K/sup +/ mesons with nuclei. [Optical potential, below 800 MeV/c, cross sections]

The general features of K/sup +/ meson interactions with nucleons and nuclei are investigated. A first order optical potential is constructed, and used to predict K/sup +/ total elastic and reaction cross sections on typical nuclei in the low energy domain (p/sub lab/ less than or equal to 800 MeV/c). The sensitivity of these cross sections to changes in the nuclear radius and surface thickness is explored. Comparisons with the available K/sup +/-emulsion data are made. One emphasizes that a low energy K/sup +/ is the only available strongly interacting hadron which is weakly absorbed in nuclei (mean free path approximately equal to 7fm). This makes it an appealingly simple probe for nuclear structure studies.