Neutral strange particle production in high transverse momentum π− nucleus interactions at ∼40 GeV/c

Measurements ofK s 0 , Λ and\(\bar \Lambda \) production in π− nucleus (C, Cu, Pb) interactions are presented. The experiment was carried out with the streamer chamber spectrometer RISK using a π− beam of ∼40 GeV/c and a trigger requiring a secondary charged particle with transverse momentum above 1.1 GeV/c. Production cross sections, relative production rates and distributions of Feynmanx and transverse momentum squared as well as correlations between theV0 and the trigger particle are presented. The results are compared and found to be in agreement withK s 0 , Λ and\(\bar \Lambda \) data from untriggered π−p and π−C interactions, except for the relative production rate of antilambdas which is about to times larger in high-p t collisions. Our results can be well interpreted within the dual topological unitarization model.