The $e^+e^-\to K^+K^-$ cross section and charged-kaon electromagnetic form factor are measured in the $e^+e^-$ center-of-mass energy range ($E$) from 2.6 to 8.0 GeV using the initial-state radiation technique with an undetected photon. The study is performed using 469 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II $e^+e^-$ collider at center-of-mass energies near 10.6 GeV. The form factor is found to decrease with energy faster than $1/E^2$, and approaches the asymptotic QCD prediction. Production of the $K^+K^-$ final state through the $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)$ intermediate states is observed. The results for the kaon form factor are used together with data from other experiments to perform a model-independent determination of the relative phases between single-photon and strong amplitudes in $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)\to K^+K^-$ decays. The values of the branching fractions measured in the reaction $e^+e^- \to K^+K^-$ are shifted relative to their true values due to interference between resonant and nonresonant amplitudes. The values of these shifts are determined to be about $\pm5\%$ for the $J/\psi$ meson and $\pm15\%$ for the $\psi(2S)$ meson.
The $K^+K^-$ invariant-mass interval ($M_{K^+K^-}$), number of selected events ($N_{\rm sig}$) after background subtraction, detection efficiency ($\varepsilon$), ISR luminosity ($L$), measured $e^+e^-\to K^+K^-$ cross section ($\sigma_{K^+K^-}$), and the charged-kaon form factor ($|F_K|$). For the number of events and cross section. For the form factor, we quote the combined uncertainty. For the mass interval 7.5 - 8.0 GeV/$c^2$, the 90$\%$ CL upper limits for the cross section and form factor are listed.
The reaction π − p → K + K − π − p at 16 GeV/ c was studied in the CERN OMEGA spectrometer and a partial-wave analysis (PWA) of the low-mass (K + K − π − ) system (1.3–2.0 GeV) was performed. Only states in the unnatural spin-parity series produced by natural parity exchange are important and they approximately conserve t -channel helicity. The 1 + S K ∗ K wave dominates the low-mass (K + K − π − ) region. We observe an enhancement in 2 − P K ∗ K wave at a mass of 1.7 GeV, consistent with the decay of the A 3 resonance.
TOTAL ACCEPTANCE CORRECTED CROSS SECTION.
ACCEPTANCE CORRECTED.
MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTING STATES CORRECTED FOR ACCEPTANCE.
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