The Kaon-Nucleon Interaction in a Quark Potential Model

The K('+)-N interaction is calculated with a quark potential model using the resonating group method (RGM). For the central interaction 2(H/2PI)(omega) mixed symmetry components of the nucleon and 2(H/2PI)(omega) components of the kaon wave function are included in the calculation of the RGM kernels. The total isospin I = 0 s-wave phase shifts are in good agreement with the experimentally determined phase shifts. The I = 1 interaction does not exhibit enough repulsion. The K('+)*-N channel is coupled to the K('+) -N channel via quark exchange. The channel coupling gives effectively a more repulsive interaction for both I = 1 and I = 0. This is in qualitative agreement with the I = 0 phase shifts above threshold. The spin-orbit quark exchange potential is calculated and found to be much weaker than a phenomenological potential which reproduces the p-wave phase shifts.