The branching ratios of K^- absorption at rest in nuclear matter are theoretically investigated in order to understand the mechanism of K^- absorption into nuclei. For this purpose mesonic and nonmesonic absorption potentials are evaluated as functions of nuclear density, the kaon momentum and energy from one- and two-body K^- self-energy, respectively. By using a chiral unitary approach for the s-wave Kbar N amplitude we find that both the mesonic and nonmesonic absorption potentials are

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... ted by the Lambda(1405) contributions. The fraction of the mesonic and nonmesonic absorptions are evaluated to be respectively about 70% and 30% at the saturation density almost independently on the kaon momentum. We also observe different behavior of the branching ratios to pi ^+ Sigma^- and pi^- Sigma^+ channels in mesonic absorption due to the interference between Lambda(1405) and the I=1 nonresonant background, which is consistent with experimental results. The nonmesonic absorption ratios [Lambda p]/[Sigma^0 p] and [Lambda n]/[Sigma^0 n] are about unity while [Sigma^+ n]/[Sigma^0 p] and [Sigma^- p]/[Sigma^0 n] are about two due to the Lambda(1405) dominance in absorption. Taking into account the kaon momenta and energies, the absorption potentials become weaker due to the downward shift of the initial K^-N two-body energy, but this does not drastirally change the nonmesonic fraction. The Sigma(1385) contribution in the p-wave Kbar N amplitude is examined and found to be very small compared to the Lambda(1405) contribution in slow K^- absorption.