There is no kappa (900)

In the I = 0 sector there are more scalar mesons than can fit in one q (q) over bar nonet. Consequently, many have claimed that there is in fact more than one multiplet, perhaps both q (q) over bar and qq (qq) over bar. Such proposals require the existence of at least two strange isodoublets land th eir antiparticles). The current PDG tables list just one stale, the K-0*(14 30), while fits to data with Breit-Wigner forms and variable backgrounds ca n accommodate a kappa (900), too. Whether a state exists in the spectrum of hadrons is not a matter of ability to fit data along the real energy axis, but is completely specified by the number of poles in the complex energy p lane. Here we perform as model-independent an analytic continuation of the LASS piK scattering results between 825 MeV and 2 GeV as presently possible to determine the number and position of resonance poles. We find that ther e is a K-0*(1430), but no kappa (900). The LASS data cannot rule out the po ssibility of a very low mass kappa well below 825 MeV. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.