High-statistics investigation of K/sup 0/K/sup -/ decay of A/sub 2 //sup -/ produced by 23-GeV/c pi /sup -/ on hydrogen

Reports results of an experiment studying the reaction pi /sup -/p to K/sub s//sup 0/K/sup -/p at incident pion momenta of 22.4 and 23.9 GeV /c performed using the Brookhaven Mark 1 Spectrometer. Determines the A/sub 2//sup -/ mass spectrum in the t' regions 0< mod t' mod <0.2, 0.2< mod t' mod <0.29 and for mod t' mod >0.29 (GeV/c)/sup 2/. Observes no two-peak structure and finds that an overall CERN MMS dipole-type fit is rejected by 8 standard deviations. Shows that the differential cross section data are well fitted by Ate/sup bt/ with b equivalent to 7.0 (GeV/c)/sup -2/ and that the total cross sections for pi /sup -/p to A/sub 2//sup -/p are sigma =2.6+or-0.4 mu b and 2.5+or-0.4 mu b at 22.4 and 23.9 GeV/c respectively. (19 refs).