High precision measurements of kaonic hydrogen x rays and also, for the first time, of kaonic deuterium are under way within the DEAR project using the e ϩ e Ϫ storage ring at Frascati. The values of the strong interaction 1s level shift and width in kaonic deuterium cannot be simply predicted by relating them, via the Deser-Trueman formula, to the K Ϫ d scattering length because the latter is not known experimentally: it cannot be obtained by adding the K Ϫ p and K Ϫ n scattering lengths but involves the solution of a complicated multichannel three-body problem. We give results of calculations of the kaonic deuterium strong interaction shift and width using an (NK ,Y ) interaction (Y ϭ⌳,⌺) that fits the available low-energy scattering data. The 1s level shift in kaonic deuterium comes out negative and both the shift and the width are estimated to be about 1 keV. The 2p capture rate is estimated to be smaller than the 2 p→1s x-ray transition rate. This information is of importance for the planned experiment as it indicates that most of the kaons should reach the lowest 1s level. ͓S0556-2813͑99͒02307-9͔ PACS number͑s͒: 13.75. Jz, 25.80.Nv, 36.10.Gv
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