K+total cross sections as a test for nucleon ‘‘swelling’’

A measurement of the ${\mathit{K}}^{+}$ total cross sections on carbon and deuterium and their ratios from 450 to 740 MeV/c has been carried out at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron. The observed ratios depart significantly from those expected from conventional nuclear physics calculations. The data are compared to models of nucleon ‘‘swelling,’’ which ascribe the effect to quark deconfinement or, alternatively, to vector-meson exchange with density-dependent masses.