Dispersive analysis of the Primakoff reaction $\gamma K \to K \pi$

Abstract

We provide a dispersion-theoretical representation of the reaction amplitudes $\gamma K\to K \pi$ in all charge channels, based on modern pion-kaon $P$-wave phase shift input. Crossed-channel singularities are fixed from phenomenology as far as possible. We demonstrate how the subtraction constants can be matched to a low-energy theorem and radiative couplings of the $K^*(892)$ resonances, thereby providing a model-independent framework for future analyses of high-precision kaon Primakoff data.