Q/sup 0/-Q/sup 0/ production in K/sub L//sup 0/p interactions up to 17 GeV/c

The construction of K/sub L//sup 0/ beam for the CERN 2 m hydrogen bubble chamber and the derivation of the beam momentum spectrum are described. Cross sections are presented for the reaction K/sub L//sup 0/+p to K/sub S//sup 0/+ pi /sup +/+ pi /sup -/+p for K/sub L//sup 0/ momenta up to 17 GeV/c. The reaction is seen to be dominated, particularly at the highest momenta, where there are no previous data, by the production of the Q/sup 0/-Q/sup 0/ system. The shapes of the t-distributions for Q/sup 0/ and Q/sup 0/ production are found to be different in a sense opposite to that expected from the pion-exchange Deck model. A model in which the observed effect is ascribed to the addition of a K* exchange Deck graph is found to be incompatible with the data. The data are, however, consistent with a model in which the Q/sup 0/-Q/sup 0/ system is largely resonant and the sense of the cross-over is determined by the s-channel quantum numbers. (12 refs).