The pp->pK+Lambda reaction was measured at COSY with a proton beam momentum of 2.345 GeV/c, i.e. with an excess energy of 2 MeV above threshold. The total cross section was determined to be 8.2±1.8 nb. The present data point close to the production threshold indicates, that often used phenomenological parametrizations of the total kaon production cross section are insufficient. It is proposed to measure the energy dependence of the kaon production cross section in the threshold region at COSY-11.
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