The average charged particle multiplicity, 〈 n ch ( M X 2 )〉, in the reaction K + p→K o X ++ is studied as a function of the mass squared, M X 2 , of the recoil system X and also as a function of the K o transverse momentum, p T , at incident momenta of 5.0, 8.2 and 16.0 GeV/ c . The complete data samples yield distributions which are not independent of c.m. energy squared, s , They exhibit a linear dependence on log ( M X 2 X / M o 2 )[ M o 2 =1 GeV 2 ] with a change in slope occurring for M X 2 ≈ s /2, and do not agree with the corresponding distributions of 〈 n ch 〉 as a function of s for K + p inelastic scattering. Sub-samples of the data for which K o production via beam fragmentation, central production and target fragmentation are expected to be the dominant mechanisms show that, within error, the distribution of 〈 n ch ( M X 2 )〉 versus M X 2 is independent of incident momentum for each sub-sample separately. In particular in the beam fragmentation region the 〈 n ch ( M X 2 )〉 versus M X 2 distribution agrees rather well with that of 〈 n ch 〉 versus s for inelastic K + p interactions. The latter result agrees with recent results on the reactions pp → pX and π − p → pX in the NAL energy range. Evidence is presented for the presence of different production mechanisms in these separate regions.
Two parametrizations are used for fitting of the mean multiplicity of the charged particles : MULT = CONST(C=A) + CONST(C=B)*LOG(M(P=4 5)**2/GEV**2) and MULT = CONST(C=ALPHA)**(M(P=4 5)**2/GEV**2)**POWER.
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