Near-threshold production of a0(980) mesons in the reaction pp -> d K^+ bar{K}^0

Using an effective Lagrangian approach as well as the Quark-Gluon Strings Model we analyze near-threshold production of a0(980)-mesons in the reaction NN -> d K bar{K} as well as the background of non-resonant Kbar{K}-pair production. We argue that the reaction pp -> d K^+ bar{K}^0 at an energy release Q<=100 MeV is dominated by the intermediate production of the a0(980)-resonance. At larger energies the non-resonant K^+bar{K}^0-pair production - where the kaons are produced in a relative P-wave - becomes important. Then effects of final-state interactions are evaluated in a unitarized scattering-length approach and found to be in the order of a 20% suppression close to threshold. Thus in present experiments at the Cooler Synchrotron COSY-Julich for Q<=107 MeV the a_0^+ signal can reliably be separated from the non-resonant K^+bar{K^0} background.