Study of the λ - N system in low-energy λ - p elastic scattering

The present paper is based on 378 Λ - p elastic scattering events in the incident-momentum region 120-320 MeVc. Differential and total cross sections have been measured in several momentum intervals and found to be consistent with predominantly S-wave scattering. No significant indication for the existence of a low-energy Λ - p resonance has been found. Using the effective-range approximation, the four scattering parameters as, at, rs, and rt were evaluated with and without further assumptions on the Λ - p interaction properties. Best values obtained from the four-parameter fit were as=-1.8, at=-1.6, rs=2.8, and rt=3.3 F. A likelihood-function mapping procedure is used to describe the large and strongly correlated errors of these values.