Near-threshold $\phi$ meson production in proton-nucleus reactions and $\phi$ width in finite nuclei

TL;DR

This study investigates near-threshold phi meson production in proton-nucleus reactions at 2.83 GeV, analyzing how the meson yields depend on target mass and momentum, to infer its in-medium width.

Contribution

It introduces a nuclear spectral function approach that accounts for primary and secondary production processes, including pion-nucleon channels, to analyze phi meson yields in nuclei.

Findings

Pion-nucleon production significantly affects low-momentum phi yields in heavy nuclei.

The model aligns with experimental acceptance windows, aiding in in-medium width estimation.

Secondary processes must be considered for accurate interpretation of phi production data.

Abstract

In the framework of the nuclear spectral function approach for incoherent primary proton-nucleon and secondary pion-nucleon production processes we study the inclusive $\phi$ meson production in the interaction of 2.83 GeV protons with nuclei. In particular, the A- and momentum-dependences of the absolute and relative phi meson yields are investigated within the different scenarios for its in-medium width. Our model calculations take into account the acceptance window of the ANKE facility used in a recent experiment performed at COSY. They show that the pion-nucleon production channel contributes distinctly to the "low-momentum" $\phi$ creation in heavy nuclei in the chosen kinematics and, hence, has to be taken into consideration on close examination of the dependences of the phi meson yields on the target mass number with the aim to get information on its width in the medium.