Inclusive production of charged pions in K−p interactions at 32 GeV/c

Results are presented on the inclusive π± production in K−p interactions at 32.1 GeV/c. The invariant longitudinal distributions have been calculated both for π+ and π− in the backward c.m. hemisphere and extrapolated in the forward hemisphere under some physical assumptions. The inclusive cross sections for π+ and π− amount to 32.9 ± 1.5 mb and 35.0 ± 0.7 mb respectively. The energy dependence of the inclusive pion production has been analyzed in the framework of Mueller-Regge phenomenology both in the proton fragmentation and in the central region.