Pion Softening and Pion Condensation

Physics of Atomic Nuclei - In this paper after a historical introduction I discuss ideas of a pion softening and pion condensation in a dense nuclear matter, in particular in neutron stars, and a...     

Electroproduction of strangeness

Formalism for the electroproduction of strange particles based on the one photon exchange approximation and the Feynman diagrams representation of hadron current is reviewed. Different photoproduction models are compared with available photo and electroproduction data. New experiments are proposed that may resolve existing uncertainties and inconsistencies. The formation of hypernuclei via kaon electroproduction is investigated theoretically and compared with other reactions involving purely hadronic processes.     

Rapid hadronization and strangeness production

A fast hadronization scenario is presented where a central role is played by the chiral symmetry break-down in the expanding Quark-Gluon Plasma. This mechanism can become effective when thermal damping ceases after the thermal freeze-out of the quark system. We estimate time scales and spatial characteristics of chiral-symmetry breaking instabilities on the basis of an effective field-theoretical model. It is argued that this fast process provides a basis to understand the measured large abundances of strange antibaryons in heavy ion collisions.     

Pentaquarks: Facts and puzzles

On the occasion of the celebration of the 70th birthday of Prof. Yu.A. Simonov, we contribute a brief review of the status of exotic baryons, which are most likely pentaquark states. We summarize the experimental status of exotic baryons, discuss the baryon antidecuplet to which exotic baryons possibly belong, and review theoretical expectations for the masses and widths of recently discovered Θ and Ξ_3/2 baryons which have come from studies of QCD sum rules, lattice QCD, and quark models. We also pay special attention to the dynamical calculation of pentaquark masses in a framework of the QCD string approach originally elaborated by Simonov for baryons and using the Jaffe-Wilczek \([ud]^2 \bar q\) approximation for the pentaquark states.     

Pion induced fission

Fissilities induced by the absorption ofπ ^? at rest in nuclei ranging from rare earth region to Uranium are evaluated by means of the Exciton Model. The theoretical results satisfactorily reproduce the experimental findings provided the ratioa _f/a_n is greater than unity and equal to 1.1.     

Pion scattering and nuclear dynamics

A phenomenological optical-model analysis of pion elastic scattering and single- and doublecharge-exchange scattering to isobaric-analog states is reviewed. Interpretation of the opticalmodel parameters is briefly discussed, and several applications and extensions are considered. The applications include the study of various nuclear properties, including neutron deformation and surface-fluctuation contributions to the density. One promising extension for the near future would be to develop a microscopic approach based on powerful momentum-space methods brought to existence over the last decade. In this, the lowest-order optical potential as well as specific higher-order pieces would be worked out in terms of microscopic pion-nucleon and delta-nucleon interactions that can be determined within modern meson-theoretical frameworks. A second extension, of a more phenomenological nature, would use coupled-channel methods and shell-model wave functions to study dynamical nuclear correlations in pion double charge exchange.Invited talk to the symposium 'Mesons and Light Nuclei IV, Bechyn, Czechoslovakia, September 5–10, 1988.The author would like to express his appreciation to Dr. Mach and the organizers for their the hospitality at the Conference.     

Polarization of strangeness Arizona muon

The longitudinal polarization of strangeness Arizona muon, namely, the 236 MeV/c ⁺ from the K^{+ +} v decay, has been measured to search for right-handed weak current in the strangeness changing process. The polarization has been determined to be –0.967±0.047.We are grateful to Professors T. Nishikawa, S. Ozaki, A. Kusumegi, and H. Sugawara of KEK for their encouragement and support during the course of this experiment. We are grateful to the operating crew of the KEK proton synchrotron and its experimental facilities for their cooperation during the experiment. This work is partially supported by the Grant-in-Aid of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.     

Two alternative versions of strangeness

The concept of strangeness emerged from the low energy phenomenology before the entry of quarks in particle physics. The connection between strangeness and isospin is rather accidental and loose and we recognize later that the definition of strangeness is model-dependent. Indeed, in Gell-Mann's triplet quark model we realize that there is a simple alternative representation of strangeness. When the concept of generations is incorporated into the quark model we find that only the second alternative version of strangeness remains meaningful, whereas the original one does no longer keep its significance.     

Pion electromagnetic polarizabilities and quarks

The electric and magnetic polarizabilities of the neutral and changed pion are calculated in a coloured quark field theory at the one-loop level. The theory has as free parameter the quark mass but our results do not depend on it. We have found that the electric polarizabilities are α_π^±=?0.04α/m_π³, α_π0=?0.4 α/m_π³. These values are compared with calculations in other models and some comments are made about the polarizability sum rules.     

Quark-hadron phase transition and strangeness conservation constraints

The implications of the strangeness conservation in a hadronic resonance gas (HRG) on the expected phase transition to the quark gluon plasma (QGP) are investigated. It is assumed that under favourable conditions a first order hadron-quark matter phase transition may occur in the hot hadronic matter such as those produced in the ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at CERN and BNL. It is however shown that the criteria of strict strangeness conservation in the HRG may not permit the occurrence of a strict first order equilibrium quark-hadron phase transition unlike a previous study. This emerges as a consequence of the application of a realistic equation of state (EOS) for the HRG and QGP phases, which account for the finite-size effect arising from the short range hard-core hadronic repulsion in the HRG phase and the perturbative QCD interactions in the QGP phase. For a first order hadron-quark matter phase transition to occur one will therefore require large fluctuations in the critical thermal parameters, which might arise due to superheating, supercooling or other nonequlibrium effects. We also discuss a scenario proposed earlier, leading to a possible strangeness separation process during hadronization. Received: 25 August 1997 / Revised version: 25 March 1998 / Published online: 26 August 1998     

Charge and strangeness transfer in multiparticle production

A simple explicit model for charge production is found to agree well with available data. This model combined with unitarity gives a realistic estimate for the suppression of two-body charge exchange scattering. Similar considerations are applied to strangeness transfer.     

Hypernuclear and strangeness physics program at J-PARC

The inauguration ceremony of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) was held on 6 July 2009, celebrating the completion of its construction. Now, the beam commissioning of the 50-GeV main proton synchrotron is in progress to improve the beam intensity and quality. Many important experimental programs are planned with the improved beams. In this report, some of them are introduced.     

Multibaryons with strangeness, charm and bottom

The spectra of baryonic systems with strangeness, charm and bottom are considered within a “rigid oscillator' version of the bound state soliton model. The static properties of multiskyrmions, of baryon number up to B=8, are calculated using the recently suggested rational map ansaetze as starting field configurations. The property of binding of flavoured mesons by an SU(2) skyrmion is proved rigorously within this model. Binding energy estimates are made of the states with largest isospin which can appear as negatively charged nuclear fragments and for states with zero isospin – fragments of “flavoured' nuclear matter. It is shown that for all types of flavour and for the isoscalar baryonic systems have a better chance to be stable against strong and electromagnetic interactions than those with nonzero isospin. Baryonic systems with charm or bottom quantum numbers are found to be bound more than strange baryonic systems. Received: 21 September 1999 / Revised version: 1 February 2000 / Published online: 27 November 2000     

Associated strangeness production at threshold

The associated strangeness dissociation at threshold has been studied at the COSY-11 facility measuring the hyperon and the K ⁺ K ^- meson pair production. Measurements of the near-threshold and production via the reaction (S. Sewerinet al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 682 (1999)) at COSY-11 have shown that the cross-section ratio exceeds the value at high excess energies ( MeV (A. Baldiniet al., Total Cross-Sections for Reactions of High-Energy Particles, Landolt-Börnstein, New Series, Vol. I/12 (Springer, Berlin, 1988))) by an order of magnitude. For a better understanding additional data have been taken between 13 MeV and 60 MeV excess energy. The near-threshold production of the charged kaon-antikaon pair is related to the discussion about the nature of the scalar states in the 1 GeV/c ² mass range, i.e. the f ₀(980) and a ₀(980) (O. Krehl, R. Rapp, J. Speth, Phys. Lett. B 390, 23 (1997)). The interpretation as a molecule is strongly dependent on the K- interaction which can be studied via the production channel. A first total cross-section value on the reaction at an excess energy of 17 MeV (C. Quentmeieret al., Phys. Lett. B 515, 276 (2001)), i.e. below the production threshold, was measured.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 13.75.-n Hadron-induced low- and intermediate-energy reactions and scattering (energy GeV) - 14.20.Jn Hyperons - 14.40.Aq , K, and mesons - 25.40.Ep Inelastic proton scattering