Neutral strange particle production in π- p, π- n and π- C interactions at 40 GeV/c

Abstract Results on the inclusive and topological cross sections for Λ and K 0 particles produced in π − p, π − n and π − C interactions at 40 GeV/ c are reported. The σ Λ ( Σ 0 ) π − p values increases twofold from 25 to 40 GeV/ c while σ K K π − p increases continuously with the incident momentum. The invariant single-particle distributions in the χ and p ⊥ 2 variables for K 1 0 and Λ particles are presented and compared with the respective ones for π − p interactions at lower energies as well as for pp interactions at 200–300 GeV/ c .