Inclusive V0 Production Cross Sections from 920 GeV Fixed Target Proton-Nucleus Collisions

Inclusive differential cross sections dσ_pA/dx_F and dσ_pA/dp_t^2 for the production of K0S, Λ, and anti-Λ particles are measured at HERA in proton-induced reactions on C, Al, Ti, and W targets. The incident beam energy is 920 GeV, corresponding to √s = 41.6 GeV in the proton-nucleon system. The ratios of differential cross sections dσ_pA(K0S)/dσ_pA(Λ) and dσ_pA(anti-Λ)/dσ_pA(Λ) are measured to be 6.2 ± 0.5 and 0.66 ± 0.07, respectively, for x_F ≈ −0.06. No significant dependence upon the target material is observed. Within errors, the slopes of the transverse momentum distributions dσ_pA/dp_t^2 also show no significant dependence upon the target material. The dependence of the extrapolated total cross sections σ_pA on the atomic mass A of the target material is discussed, and the deduced cross sections per nucleon σ_pN are compared with results obtained at other energies.