$K_S^0$ meson production in inelastic p+p interactions at 31, 40 and 80 GeV/c beam momentum measured by NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS

Measurements of $K_S^0$ meson production via its ${\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ decay mode in inelastic $\mathit{\text{p+p}}$ interactions at incident projectile momenta of 31, 40 and 80 GeV/$c$ ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}=7.7,8.8$ and $12.3$ GeV, respectively) are presented. The data were recorded by the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Double-differential distributions were obtained in transverse momentum and rapidity. The mean multiplicities of $K_S^0$ mesons were determined to be $(5.95\pm 0.19(stat)\pm 0.22(sys))\times {10}^{-2}$ at 31 GeV/$c$, $(7.61\pm 0.13(stat)\pm 0.31(sys))\times {10}^{-2}$ at 40 GeV/$c$ and $(11.58\pm 0.12(stat)\pm 0.37(sys))\times {10}^{-2}$ at 80 GeV/$c$. The results on $K_S^0$ production are compared with model calculations (Epos1.99, SMASH 2.0 and PHSD) as well as with published data from other experiments.