Coupled-channel analysis of KΛ production in the nucleon resonance region -: art. no. 015210

A unitary coupled-channel effective Lagrangian model is applied to the combined analysis of the (pi,gamma)N -> K Lambda reactions in the energy region up to 2 GeV. To constrain the resonance couplings to the K Lambda final state the recent photoproduction data obtained by the SAPHIR, Spring-8, and CLAS groups are included in the calculations. The main resonance contributions to the process stem from the S-11(1650),P-13(1720), and P-13(1900) states. The second peak at 1.9 GeV seen in the photoproduction cross-section data is described as a coherent sum of the resonance and background contributions. The prediction for the beam polarization observable is presented.