Photoproduction ofKMesons and the Intrinsic Parities of the Strange Particles

We examine the general properties near threshold of the reactions $\gamma +\mathrm{nucleon}\to \mathrm{hyperon}+K$ meson, especially from the point of view of using these reactions to determine the intrinsic $Y-K$ parity relative to that of the nucleon from which they are produced. We base our computations on the possibility that, unlike the pion case, there may be no enhancement of the interaction in some special state. Alternatively, departure of the observations from the predictions of such considerations will point out the importance of enhanced states. The approach is through a perturbation computation in which we use, however, a simple model of the Yukawa interaction in order to exhibit in explicit form the dependence of the reaction properties on the hyperon and $K$-meson moments and on the nature of their interaction. In general, it is pointed out how observations on angular distributions must be combined with relative cross sections and their energy dependence in order to draw unambiguous conclusions.