Experimental study of the pd{yields}{sup 3}He K{sup +}K{sup -} and pd{yields}{sup 3}He {phi} reactions close to threshold

Two-kaon production in proton-deuteron collisions has been studied at three energies close to threshold using a calibrated magnetic spectrograph to measure the final {sup 3}He and a vertex detector to measure the K{sup +}K{sup -} pair. Differential and total cross sections are presented for the production of {phi}-mesons, decaying through {phi}{yields}K{sup +}K{sup -}, as well as for prompt K{sup +}K{sup -} production. The prompt production seems to follow phase space in both its differential distributions and in its energy dependence. The amplitude for the pd{yields}{sup 3}He{phi} reaction varies little for excess energies below 22 MeV and the value is consistent with that obtained from a threshold measurement. The angular distribution of the K{sup +}K{sup -} decay pair shows that near threshold the {phi}-mesons are dominantly produced with polarization m=0 along the initial proton direction. No conclusive evidence for f{sub 0}(980) production is found in the data.