Lambda-neutron interaction in kaon photoproduction from the deuteron

The importance of hyperon-nucleon final-state interaction in kaon photoproduction from the deuteron is examined. By calculating the deuteron wave function using the Reid, Paris, or Bonn NN potentials, the uncertainty of this process due to the nucleonic wave function is found to be negligible. The insignificance of off-shell and relativistic effects is demonstrated by employing a completely relativistic wave function and comparing various approximations. We find the influence of the kaon production operator to be the most critical ingredient in this calculation. Final-state effects, which are included via a distorted-wave formalism, involve partial waves up to l=3. They produce a sharp rise of the cross section near threshold resulting in an enhancement by about a factor of 3, but diminish rapidly as the energy increases. Different ΛN potential models show variations of the effect by up to 10%.