The role of the $\Lambda(1405)$ in the $pp\to p K^+\Lambda(1405)$ reaction

Abstract

We report a theoretical study of the $pp\to p K^+\Lambda(1405)$ reaction, which was recently investigated at COSY-J\"{u}lich by using a 3.65 GeV/c circulating proton beam incident on an internal hydrogen target. The reaction is driven by single kaon exchange, single pion exchange, and single rho exchange terms which have very different shapes due to the two pole structure of the $\Lambda(1405)$ and the presence of background terms. The shape for the sum of the three contributions, as well as the total cross section, are consistent with present data within experimental and theoretical uncertainties, using reasonable form factors for the meson-baryon vertices.