Speaker
Mr
William Levine
(Carnegie Mellon University)
Description
The photoproduction reaction $\gamma p \to K^+ \Lambda(1520)$ is a topic of interest due to possible interference with the $\gamma p \to \phi p$ reaction and possible heavy excited nucleon decay to $K^+ \Lambda(1520)$. In particular, an unexplained bump has been seen in measurements of the differential cross-section and provoked theoretical work. Information about the production mechanism of this reaction can be gained from studying the angular distribution of the $\Lambda(1520)$ decay products. This distribution is parameterized by a set of spin density matrix elements and reveals the polarization of the $\Lambda(1520)$. Previous measurements of the decay distribution have been limited by low statistics, small angular coverage, and coarse binning. New, high-statistics measurements of the $\Lambda(1520)$ spin density matrix elements, using the $\Lambda(1520) \to K^- p$ decay mode, from the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer at Jefferson Lab are presented here.
Primary author
Mr
William Levine
(Carnegie Mellon University)
