Abstract
A study of 1.66 GeV/c K^- beam induced (K^-, K^+) reactions in the nuclear emulsion target is presented. We have identified 797 (K^-, K^+) reaction vertices (p_<K^+>≤1 GeV/c). These events are classified into several categories by the shapes of emitted track at their stopped points. While the quasi free process, K^-(p) →K^+Ξ^-, is a dominant process for p_<K^+>≤1 GeV/c, the probability of Ξ^- emission from the reaction vertex is found to be 70±4%. From this value, we have estimated the mean free path of Ξ^- in a nucleus to be 4.0^<+1.1>_<-0.8> fm by assuming a simple model of uniform nuclear matter.
