Deep processes in nuclei and in-medium dressing of the nucleons and mesons

K⁺ scattering and quasielastic electron scattering from nuclei are expected to provide information about the nucleons and mesons in the inner regions of nuclei. The K⁺- nucleus cross sections and the quasielastic electron-nucleus response functions have been calculated taking into account the same in-medium dressing of the nucleons and the same coupling of the σ and ω mesons to the polarization of nuclear matter. We obtain a good agreement with experimental data for the two processes.     

Comparison of the ratios of the yields of cumulative K + and K − mesons with the predictions of the model of a collective sea of quark-antiquark pairs in nuclei

The results obtained by simulating, within the flucton model, the production and secondary interactions of cumulative K ⁺ and K ^? mesons in nuclei indicate that the ratios of their yields are in acceptable agreement with the predictions of the model of a collective sea of quark-antiquark pairs in nuclei. The calculations were performed with allowance for the kaon-hadronization length according to the model of bremsstrahlung-gluon emission and the parton model.     

Coherent production of (K + π 0) pairs on nuclei in a Charged-Kaon beam

The cross section for the coherent production of (K ⁺ π ⁰) pairs that is associated with a chiral anomaly and with diagrams involving intermediate K*(892), ρ, ω, and ?(1020) mesons is calculated for the Coulomb interaction of K ⁺ mesons with nuclei. The number of such events that is expected for the OKA detector at the Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEP, Protvino) is presented.     

Azimuthal Distributions of K + Mesons in Heavy-Ion Collisions

Strange mesons are considered to be sensitive to in-medium modifications. Theory predicts a repulsive K ⁺ N potential and an attractive K ^? N potential in dense matter. A repulsive K ⁺ N potential would repel the K ⁺ mesons from the bulk of the nucleons and therefore cause a preferred out-of-plane emission of K ⁺ mesons at midrapidity and a directed flow opposite to the nucleons at target and projectile rapidity. One of observables to probe in-medium effects is the azimuthal emission pattern of K ⁺ mesons in heavy ion collisions. KaoS collaboration has measured the azimuthal distributions of K ⁺ mesons in Au + Au reactions at 1.5 A GeV and Ni + Ni reactions at 1.93 A GeV. Data show that K ⁺ mesons exhibit a pronounced enhancement at ${\phi = {90}^\circ}$ , i.e. perpendicular to the reaction plane. The data have also been fitted using the first two components of a Fourier series to get the directed flow v ₁ and elliptic flow v ₂. We used the quantum molecular dynamics model based on the covariant kaon dynamics to simulate the Au + Au collisions at 1.5 A GeV and the Ni + Ni collisions at 1.93 A GeV, to analyze the azimuthal distributions of K ⁺ mesons, and to calculate v ₁ and v ₂ of K ⁺ mesons. Calculated results with a repulsive in-medium K ⁺ N potential can reasonably describe the features of KaoS data. This indicates that the azimuthal distribution is one of sensitive probes to extract information on in-medium properties at high densities.     

Factorial moments and correlations in meson-nucleus interactions at 250 GeV/c

A sample of 8000 interactions of 250 GeV/c π⁺ andK ⁺ mesons on Al and Au nuclei, is used to search for intermittency effects by calculating the normalized factorial moments of order two to four. No significant effect is observed in the higher moments. Two-body rapidity correlations and Bose-Einstein correlations in these interactions are presented.     

Microscopic <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript>-nucleus optical potential and calculations of differential elastic-scattering cross sections and total reaction cross sections

The differential elastic-scattering cross sections and the total reaction cross sections for the interaction of K ⁺ mesons with ¹²C and ⁴⁰Ca nuclei at beam momenta of 0.635, 0.715, and 0.8 GeV/c are calculated. The microscopic optical potential derived in the high-energy approximation is used in these calculations. It is determined by the amplitude for kaon-nucleon scattering and the density distribution of pointlike nucleons of the target nucleus. In the high-energy approximation, the Klein-Gordon-Fock equation reduces to the form of the Schrödinger equation. It is shown that small distinctions between the reduction methods do not lead to significant changes in differential elastic-scattering cross sections, but the effects of relativization as such are quite large. Good agreement with experimental data on elastic K ⁺ A scattering is attained. The total reaction cross sections can be described upon adding, to the volume potential, a term that takes the form of its derivative and which has a maximum at the periphery, its contribution being fitted to experimental data.     

The nature of low-lying <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis></Superscript> = 0<Superscript>+</Superscript> bands in nuclei

Low-lying K ^π = 0⁺ bands are one of the most fundamental excitation modes in the spectra of deformed nuclei; however, very little is known about the nature of these excitations. We report on some new lifetime measurements using the GRID technique at ILL, and high-precision (p, t) reactions to elucidate the character of low-lying K ^π = 0⁺ bands in deformed nuclei. We also present results from a recent calculation on the nature of 0⁺ states using the projected shell model.     

Equations for O+ states in deformed nuclei

The quasiparticle-phonon nuclear model equations are derived for describing theKπ=O⁺ states in doubly even deformed nuclei taking account of particle-hole and particle-particle interactions between quasiparticles. Inclusion of particle-particle interactions complicates the RPA equations. Equations for the functions of monopole and quadrupole pairing are derived from the condition of eliminating spurious RPA solutions. In the QPNM, inclusion of a particle-particle interaction does not lead to very complicated calculations. The obtained equations can serve as a basis for calculating characteristics of the O⁺ excited states of doubly even deformed nuclei.     

Eikonal expansion in electron scattering

We extend a previously developed eikonal expansion method to the case of high-energy electron scattering from dynamic nuclei. Nuclear degrees of freedom can be included either by a DWBA-like expansion or by neglecting the nuclear excitation energies. The latter approach is considered in detail and applied to the elastic and inelastic scattering from deformed nuclei. The impact parameterT-matrix is calculated by diagonalizing the inelastic zeroth-order and first-order eikonal phases in the subspace of the nuclear rotational levels; static eikonal phases are included up to second order. For¹⁵²Sm,¹⁵⁴Sm coupled-channel calculations including three and four rotational states show large multi-step effects for the 0⁺→4⁺ and the 0⁺→6⁺ excitations compared to DWBA results.     

Effects of Final State Interactions in Pure Annihilation Decay of B+ → D+K0*

The decay of the B ⁺ meson to the D ⁺ and K ⁰* mesons is a pure annihilation decay. For this reason, in the framework of the quantum chromodynamics factorization (QCDF) approach, this decay has a small amplitude and a small branching ratio. In this research we find that, before the D ⁺ and K ⁰* mesons are produced in the final states, pair mesons such as D _s ⁺* and D _s ⁺ρ⁰ are produced. The intermediate-state mesons via the exchange of K ⁰(K ⁰*) and D ⁺(D ⁺*) go to the D ⁺ and K ⁰* final state mesons. However we calculate the B ₊ → D ⁺ K ⁰* decay in two different frameworks. The first framework is the QCDF method and the second one is final state interaction (FSI). The experimental branching ratio of B ₊ → D ₊ K ⁰* decay is less than 3 × 10^–6, and our results obtained by the QCDF method and FSI are (0.35 ± 0.04) × 10^–6 and (2.94 ± 0.10) × 10^–6, respectively.     

Antikaon production in proton-nucleus reactions and the K− properties in nuclear matter

We calculate the momentum-dependent potentials for K⁺ and K⁻ mesons in a dispersion approach at nuclear density ϱ₀ using the information from the vacuum K⁺N and K⁻N scattering amplitudes, however, leaving out the resonance contributions for the in-medium analysis. Whereas the K⁺ potential is found to be repulsive (≈ + 25 MeV) and to show only a moderate momentum dependence, the K⁻ self-energy at normal nuclear matter density turns out to be ≈ − 140 ± 25 MeV at zero momentum roughly in line with K⁻ atomic data, however, decreases rapidly in magnitude for higher momenta. The antikaon production in p + A reactions is calculated within a coupled channel transport approach and compared to the data at KEK including different assumptions for the antikaon potentials. Furthermore, detailed predictions are made for p+¹²C and p+²⁰⁷Pb reactions at 2.5 GeV in order to determine the momentum-dependent antikaon potential experimentally.     

Nuclear quadrupole-quadrupole interaction in the inelastic scattering of aligned deuterons from deformed nuclei

The 2 ₁ ⁺ -excitation of deformed nuclei by tensor polarized deuterons provides an alignment of both nuclei and thus a means to study specifically the quadrupole-quadrupole interaction between both nuclei. The tensor analyzing powerA _xz (θ) has been measured for the elastic and inelastic scattering on²⁴Mg and²⁸Si. The coupled channel analysis including a deformed tensor potential reveals a clear signature of the quadrupole-quadrupole part of the nuclear projectile-target interaction.     

Deformed relativistic mean field study of binding energy anomaly in neutron-rich Ne,Na, Mg nuclei

Relativistic mean field model of interacting nucleons and mesons is used to study the structure of neutron-rich Ne, Na, Mg nuclei using a deformed basis. Results for binding energies are remarkably close to experimental values, thus addressing the problem of “island of inversion” anomaly. The spins of^29,31Na are correctly predicted as 3/2⁺.     

A study of the reaction K+n → K+π−p at 2–3 GeV/c

Results are given from a study of 15 518 events of the reaction K⁺d → K⁺π^?pp. The K⁺π^? spin density matrix and the constraints imposed on it by positivity have been studied. Analyses of K⁺π^? → K⁺π^? elastic scattering have been carried out using methods developed by Estabrooks and Martin and Ochs and Wagner for the analogous case of ππ scattering. Results are found to be in agreement with earlier Kπ scattering studies using the reaction K⁺p → K⁺π^?Δ⁺⁺ at much higher energies. The S-wave scattering length is found to be in agreement with the prediction of current algebra.     

Strange particles production and absorption in nuclei at high energies

The absorption of the secondary hadrons in nuclear matter is studied as a function of their flavour dependent inelastic cross section on nucleons. In particular the ratiosK ⁺/π⁺ andK ^?/π^? of particles produced in the proton-nucleus high energy interactions are examined and described in the very simple phenomenological model. The enhanced production ofK ⁺ mesons is explained by their relatively small interaction. The presence of the initial particle absorption is clearly demonstrated forx _F>0.5.     

Strange mesons in dense nuclear matter

Experimental data on the production of kaons and antikaons in heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies are presented and discussed with respect to in-medium effects. The K ^?/K⁺ ratios measured in nucleus-nucleus collisions are 1–2 orders of magnitude larger than in proton-proton collisions. The azimuthal angle distributions of K ⁺ mesons indicate a repulsive kaon-nucleon potential. Microscopic transport calculations consistently explain both the yields and the emission patterns of kaons and antikaons when assuming that their properties are modified in dense nuclear matter. The K ⁺ production excitation functions measured in light and heavy collision systems provide evidence for a soft nuclear equation-of-state.     

Process dependence of the target jet remnants in the photoproduction of large transverse momentum jets

We use the quark recombination model of Das and Hwa to predict the inclusive meson spectra (π⁺, π^?,K ⁺,K ^?) in the target fragmentation region for processes in which a large transverse momentum jet is produced by a nearly real photon. We find that the antiparticle ratios of such target jet mesons are sensitive to the type of process which has produced the largep _t jet. By comparing the ratios found in photoproduction to those in deep inelastic scattering we point out that it is in principle possible to identify the presence of the Bethe-Heitler photoproduction subprocess. We conclude that the target jet remnants can contribute to separating the subprocesses responsible for the photoproduction of largep _t jets.     

On magnetic dipole form factors in deformed nuclei

Properties of magnetic dipole form factors for deformed nuclei are discussed in terms of the angular momentum projected Hartree-Fock-Bogoljubov approximation and the neutron-proton interacting boson model. It is pointed out that there exists a relation between the M1 form factor for the excitation of the orbital K^π=1⁺ band, the M1 form factor for the ground-state band, and the collective M1 form factor in odd-A nuclei.