A partial wave analysis of the centrally produced K q K y system in pp interactions at 300 GeV r c WA 76

A partial wave analysis of the centrally produced KK channel from the WA76 experiment has been performed and Ž . Ž . shows evidence for peaks in the S-wave due to the f 1500 and f 1710 with Js0. The D-wave shows no evidence for a 0 J statistically significant contribution in the 1.7 GeV mass region. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. One of the fundamental predictions of QCD is the existence of glueballs. Current theoretical predictions based on lattice gauge calculations indicate that the lowest lying scalar glueball should be in the mass w x Ž . range 1500–1700 MeV 1 . The f 1500 and the 0 Ž . f 1710 display clear glueball characteristics in that J they are both produced in glue-rich production mechanisms and are either not seen, or are heavily suppressed in normal hadronic interactions. In addiŽ . tion, the f 1710 is observed to decay dominantly to J y KK and yet it is not produced in K p interactions w x Ž . 2 . However, the spin of the f 1710 is still uncerJ tain with Js0 or 2 being possible. w x Recently, the CERN WA102 experiment 3 has published the results of a partial wave analysis of the centrally produced KK system which shows that Ž . the f 1710 has Js0. In 1989 the WA76 collaboJ ration published results from the analysis of the w x centrally produced KK system 4 . In an attempt to Ž . assess the spin of the f 1710 the angular distribuJ tions in the 1.5 and 1.7 GeV mass intervals were studied. The two regions were found to be similar, and since it was assumed that the signal at 1.5 GeV X Ž . was due to the f 1525 , it was concluded that the 2 signal at 1.7 GeV was also spin two. From these two Ž . observations the f 1710 was allocated spin two. J w x However, the recent WA102 analysis 3 showed that the 1.5 GeV region had a large component due to the Ž . f 1500 . 0 This paper presents a reanalysis of the WA76 KK final state formed in the reaction ppTMp KK p 1 Ž . Ž . f s 0370-2693r99r$ see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S0370-2693 99 00747-9 ( ) B.R. French et al.rPhysics Letters B 46