Resonance production in five-body final states from K$\^{+}$p interactions at 5 GeV/c

The final states corresponding to the reaction K/sup +/p to KN pi pi pi are studied at 5.0 GeV/c incident momentum. The general characteristics of these reactions are given. A more detailed study is made of resonance production. The more abundantly produced resonances are K*(892), Delta (1236), rho , omega , eta , K*(1420), N*(1520) and N*(1700). Fits to the multidimensional space of effective masses show that for the final state K/sup 0/p pi /sup +/ pi /sup -/ pi /sup -/, more than 30% of the reaction proceeds through quasi two-body intermediate states, and that more than 88% proceeds through the production of at least one resonance. Some evidence is found for the production of other resonances such as K*(1660) to K3 pi , Delta (1920) to p pi /sup +/ pi /sup +/ pi /sup -/ and N*(2064) to p pi /sup +/ pi /sup -/ pi /sup 0/. Several examples of cascade decays are found, but no direct decay into more than three bodies is observed. (18 refs).