LARGE MOMENTUM TRANSFER KAON-PROTON ELASTIC SCATTERING AT BEAM MOMENTA OF 100 GEV/C AND 200 GEV/C.

Measurements of the differential cross-section for elastic scattering of positive and negative kaons off of a proton target are given in this dissertation. The beam momenta were 100 GeV/c and 200 GeV/c. The range of t, the four momentum transfer squared, measured was 0.4 < -t < 3.0. The experiment was performed at Fermilab. The data is consistent with previous experiments. Because of the much greater statistical accuracy of this experiment, it is now clear that the apparent equality of the pion and kaon cross-sections at larger t was due to poor statistical accuracy. The experimental results are not predicted by any theory. Furthermore, the difference between the pion and kaon differential cross-sections is not explained by geometrical scaling, as it was in the past