The A(K-stop,Λd )A'' reaction, a tool to observe [ˉNNN] clusters

This work presents experimental results obtained from a study of the K ^- _stop A → ΛdA' reaction, where A = ⁶ Li . The study concerns the distributions of the Λd invariant mass, which allows us to determine the structure of bound [K ^- ppn] systems in nuclei. A candidate of such clusters is identified in the present measurement, and its mass (binding energy), decay width and yield are reported. The experiment was performed at the DAΦ NE φ -facility (LNF) by using the FINUDA spectrometer. The study depended on the capability of FINUDA to reconstruct the traces of all the particles involved in the decay of the nuclear cluster.     

Analysis of (π K<Superscript>+</Superscript>) and (K<Superscript>-</Superscript>, K<Superscript>+</Superscript>) hypernuclear production spectra in distorted-wave impulse approximation

We study the hyperon-nucleus potential with distorted-wave impulse wave approximation (DWIA) using the Green's function method. In order to include the nucleon and hyperon potential effects in Fermi averaging, we introduce the local optimal momentum approximation of target nucleons. We can describe the quasi-free Λ , Σ and Ξ production spectra in a better way than in the standard Fermi-averaged t -matrix treatments.     

Kaonic hydrogen versus the K<Superscript>-</Superscript>p low-energy data

We present an exact solution to the K^--proton bound-state problem formulated in the momentum space. The 1s level characteristics of the kaonic hydrogen are computed simultaneously with the available low-energy K ^- p data. In the strong-interaction sector the meson-baryon interactions are described by means of an effective (chirally motivated) separable potential and its parameters are fitted to the experimental data.     

Study of the proton weak decay of 12ΛCg.s. with FINUDA

The FINUDA experiment studies the Λ -hypernuclei formation and decay using the reaction ( K ^- _stop,π^- induced by the low-momentum K^- from the deacy of the φ -meson produced at the (e ⁺, e ^- collider DAφ NE at the Laboratory Nazionali di Frascati of INFN. In this paper we present new data on the proton spectra following the weak decay of ¹² _ΛC .     

Different formulations of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He and <Superscript>3</Superscript>H photodisintegration

Different momentum space Faddeev-like equations and their solutions for the radiative pd-capture and the three-nucleon photodisintegration of ³He are presented. Applications are based on the AV18 nucleon-nucleon and the Urbana IX three-nucleon forces. Meson exchange currents are included using the Siegert theorem. A very good agreement has been found in all cases indicating the reliability of the used numerical methods. Predictions for cross-sections and polarization observables in the pd-capture and the complete three-nucleon breakup of ³He at different incoming-deuteron/photon energies are presented.     

The K<Superscript>-</Superscript>α scattering length and the reaction dd↦αK<Superscript>+</Superscript>K<Superscript>-</Superscript>

We present predictions for the K^-α scattering length obtained within the framework of the multiple-scattering approach. Evaluating the pole position of the K^-α scattering amplitude within the zero-range approximation, we find a loosely bound K^-α state with a binding energy of E_R = - 2,..., - 7 MeV and a width Γ_R = 11,..., 18 MeV. We propose to measure the K^-α scattering length through the final-state interaction between the α and K^--meson produced in the reaction dd↦αK⁺K^-. It is found that the K^-α invariant-mass distribution from this reaction at energies near the threshold provides a new tool to determine the s-wave K^-α scattering length.     

Kaon absorption from kaonic atoms and formation spectra of kaonic nuclei

We considered the kaon absorption from atomic states into the nucleus. We found that the nuclear density probed by the atomic kaon significantly depends on the kaon orbit. Then, we re-examined the meanings of the observed strengths of one-body and two-body kaon absorption, and investigated the effects to the formation spectra of kaon bound states by in-flight (K ^-, p) reactions. As a natural consequence, if the atomic kaon probes a smaller nuclear density, the ratio of the two-body absorption at nuclear center is larger than the observed value in kaonic atoms, and the depth of the imaginary potential is deeper even at smaller kaon energies as in kaonic nuclear states because of the large phase space for the two-body processes. This deeper imaginary potential makes the signals of kaonic nucleus formation more unclear in the (K ^-, p) spectra.     

Strange-baryon production asymmetry in K<Superscript>±</Superscript>N interactions

The asymmetry of strange-baryon production in Kp interactions at high energies is considered in the framework of the Quark-Gluon String Model. The contribution of the string-junction mechanism to the strange baryon production is analysed.     

The pp→K<Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">Σ</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript>n cross-section from missing-mass spectra

We utilize existing inclusive data on K⁺-meson momentum spectra of the reaction pp→K ⁺ X at T _p = 2.3-2.85GeV to deduce total cross-sections for pp→K ⁺ Σ ⁺ n. The method used to extract those cross-sections is explained and discussed in detail. Our result for T _p = 2.85GeV is consistent with the data point from a direct measurement at the same beam energy. The cross-section obtained for T _p = 2.3GeV is with 13.7±2.3μb considerably smaller than the value found in a recent experiment by the COSY-11 Collaboration at a somewhat lower beam energy, indicating that the pp→K ⁺ Σ ⁺ n reaction cross-section could exhibit a rather unusual energy dependence.     

Analysis of Θproduction in K<Superscript>+</Superscript>- Xe collisions

The reaction K⁺XeK⁰pX is investigated in a meson-exchange model including rescattering of the secondary protons with the aim to analyze the evidence for the ⁺(1540)-resonance reported by the DIANA Collaboration. We confirm that the kinematical cuts introduced by the DIANA Collaboration efficiently suppress the background to the K⁺nK⁰p reaction which may contribute to the ⁺(1540) production. We find that these kinematical cuts do not produce a narrow structure in the K^0p effective-mass spectra near 1540 MeV. We study the effect of a narrow ⁺-resonance of both positive and negative parity in comparison with the DIANA data. We show that the K⁺XeK⁰pX calculations without ⁺ contribution as well as the results obtained with a ⁺ width of 1 MeV are in comparably good agreement with the DIANA results. More dedicated experiments are called for to establish this exotic baryon resonance.     

First observation of the ΣN decay of the S = - 2 system

An event emitting a Σ^- -hyperon from a Ξ^- -hyperon nuclear capture at rest has been observed in a hybrid-emulsion experiment. The event has been analyzed as the first observation of the weak decay of the S = - 2 system.     

ΛΛ-Ξ N coupling effects in light hypernuclei

The significance of ΛΛ-Ξ N coupling in double-Λ hypernuclei has been studied. The Pauli suppression effect due to this coupling in ⁶ _ΛΛ He has been found to be 0.43MeV for the coupling strength of the NSC97e potential. This indicates that the free-space ΛΛ interaction is stronger by an about 5^° phase shift than that deduced from the empirical data of ⁶ _ΛΛ He without including the Pauli suppression effect. In ⁵ _ΛΛ He and ⁵ _ΛΛ H, an attractive term arising from the ΛΛ-Ξ N conversion is enhanced by the formation of an alpha-particle in the intermediate Ξ states. According to this enhancement, we have found that the ΛΛ binding energy ( ΔB _ΛΛ) of ⁵ _ΛΛ He is about 0.27MeV larger than that of ⁶ _ΛΛ He for the NSC97e coupling strength. This finding deviates from the general picture that the heavier is the core nucleus, the larger is ΔB _ΛΛ.-1 Received: 17 July 2002 / Accepted: 27 September 2002 / Published online: 17 January 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: akaishi@post.ket.jp Communicated by A. Molinari     

Quantum Monte Carlo studies of bound and unbound states

Over the last fifteen years, there has been tremendous progress in understanding how nuclear structure arises from the nucleon-nucleon interaction. I describe the contribution to this progress made by quantum Monte Carlo computational methods, as well as directions to be taken in future work. Most effort in the past has concentrated on energy spectra, and we have had good success in computing the spectra of systems with A≤12. We are now shifting our attention to off-diagonal and scattering/reaction properties of the light nuclei. I also discuss briefly the relation of quantum Monte Carlo methods to other ab initio methods and their particular relevance for weakly-bound nuclei produced at radioactive-beam facilities.     

The quenching of nucleon yields in the nonmesonic weak decay of Λ -hypernuclei and the three-body weak decay process

Recent exclusive coincidence measurements of non-mesonic weak decays (NMWD) reported for the ratio of the partial decay width of neutron-induced-to-proton-induced NMWD, Γ_n/Γ_p , values of 0.45±0.11±0.03 and 0.51±0.13±0.04 for 5lam and ¹² _Λ C , respectively. These observations agree well with the improved theoretical Γ_n/Γ_p ratios which are in the range of 0.3-0.7. It appears that the long-standing discrepancy between the experimental and theoretical values of Γ_n/Γ_p has finally been solved. However, when compared to the results of intra-nuclear cascade (INC) calculations, the observed numbers of both single nucleons and coincident nucleon pairs are strongly quenched. The quenching of the proton yield observed previously has been interpreted as an increase of the Γ_n/Γ_p ratio. On the other hand, significant contributions from the two-nucleon-induced three-body process ΛNN → nNN are predicted. Indeed, the angular correlation of the emitted nucleon pairs in the NMWD of ¹² _Λ C showed not only decay events in back-to-back kinematics, but also events with non-back-to-back kinematics. In this paper we show that the difficulties to extract the correct Γ_n/Γ_p ratio from the proton spectra is related to the three-body weak-interaction process which strongly quenches the nucleon yields.     

K<Superscript>+</Superscript> production in proton-nucleus reactions and the role of momentum-dependent potentials

The production of K⁺-mesons in proton-nucleus collisions from 1.0 to 2.5GeV is analyzed with respect to one-step nucleon-nucleon ( NN → NYK ⁺) and two-step Δ-nucleon ( ΔN → K ⁺ YN) or pion-nucleon ( πN → K ⁺ Y) production channels on the basis of a coupled-channel transport approach (CBUU) including the kaon final-state interactions. The influence of momentum-dependent potentials for the nucleon, hyperon and kaon in the final state are studied as well as the importance of K⁺ elastic rescattering in the target nucleus. The transport calculations are compared to the experimental K⁺ spectra taken at LBL Berkeley, SATURNE, CELSIUS, GSI and COSY-Jülich. It is found that the momentum-dependent baryon potentials affect the excitation function of the K⁺ cross-section; at low bombarding energies of ∼ 1.0GeV the attractive baryon potentials in the final state lead to a relative enhancement of the kaon yield, whereas the net repulsive potential at bombarding energies ∼ 2GeV causes a decrease of the K⁺ cross-section. Furthermore, it is pointed out that especially the K⁺ spectra at low momenta (or kinetic energy T _K) allow to determine the in-medium K⁺ potential almost model independently due to a relative shift of the K⁺ spectra in kinetic energy that arises from the acceleration of the kaons when propagating out of the nuclear medium to free space, i.e. converting the potential energy to the kinetic energy of the free kaon. Received: 28 January 2002 / Accepted: 3 June 2002 / Published online: 19 November 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: Wolfgang.Cassing@theo.physik.uni-giessen.de Communicated by P. Schuck     

Structure of low-lying <Superscript>12</Superscript>C resonances

The hyperspherical adiabatic expansion is combined with complex scaling and used to calculate low-lying nuclear resonances of ¹²C in the 3α model. We use Ali-Bodmer potentials and compare results for other potentials α-α with similar ⁸Be properties. A three-body potential is used to adjust the ¹²C resonance positions to desired values extending the applicability of the method to many-body systems decaying into three α-particles. For natural choices of three-body potentials we find 14 resonances below the proton separation threshold, i.e. two 0⁺, three 2⁺, two 4⁺, one of each of 1^±, 2^-, 3^±, 4^-, and 6⁺. The partial-wave decomposition of each resonance is calculated as a function of the hyperradius. Strong variation is found from small to large distance. The connection to previous experimental and theoretical results is discussed and agreements as well as disagreements are emphasized.     

Four-nucleon force using the method of unitary transformation

We discuss in detail the derivation of the leading four-nucleon force in chiral effective field theory using the method of unitary transformation. The resulting four-nucleon force is given in both momentum and configuration space. It does not contain any unknown parameters and can be used in few- and many-nucleon studies.     

Lifetime of heavy hypernuclei and its implications on the weak ΛN interaction

The lifetime of the Λ-hyperon in heavy hypernuclei measured in proton-Au, -Bi and -U collisions by the COSY-13 Collaboration at COSY-Jülich has been analyzed to yield τ_Λ = (145±11) ps. This value for τ_Λ is compatible with the lifetime extracted from antiproton annihilation on Bi and U targets, albeit much more accurate. Theoretical models based on the meson exchange picture and assuming the validity of the phenomenological ΔI = 1/2 rule predict the lifetime of heavy hypernuclei to be significantly larger (2-3 standard deviations). Such large differences indicate that at least one of the assumptions in these models is not fulfilled. A much better reproduction of the lifetimes of heavy hypernuclei is achieved in the phase space model, if the ΔI = 1/2 rule is discarded in the nonmesonic Λ decay. Received: 8 August 2002 / Accepted: 20 December 2002 / Published online: 25 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: h.stroeher@fz-juelich.de Communicated by Th. Walcher     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Λ</Emphasis>N scattering length from the reaction <Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis>d→K<Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">Λ</Emphasis>n

The prospects of utilizing the strangeness production reaction γd→K ⁺ Λn for the determination of the Λn low-energy scattering parameters are investigated. The spin observables that need to be measured in order to isolate the Λn singlet (¹ S ₀) and triplet (³ S ₁) states are identified. Possible kinematical regions where the extraction of the Λn scattering lengths might be feasible are discussed.     

Exclusive charge exchange reaction pD↦n(pp) within the Bethe-Salpeter formalism

The exclusive charge exchange reaction pD↦n(pp) at intermediate and high energies is studied within the Bethe-Salpeter formalism. The final-state interaction in the detected pp pair at nearly zero excitation energy is described by the ¹ S ₀ component of the Bethe-Salpeter amplitude. Results of numerical calculations of polarization observables and differential cross-section persuade that, as in the non-relativistic case, this reaction i) can be utilized as a “relativistic deuteron polarimeter” and ii) delivers further information about the elementary nucleon-nucleon charge exchange amplitude. Received: 26 November 2002 / Accepted: 30 January 2003 / Published online: 29 April 2003