Studying Strange Meson Production with FOPI

TL;DR

This paper investigates strange meson production using the FOPI detector, revealing in-medium modifications of neutral kaons and proposing momentum-dependent cross section ratios as sensitive probes for in-medium potential strength.

Contribution

It introduces new experimental insights into in-medium effects on meson production and suggests using cross section ratios as sensitive observables for nuclear medium modifications.

Findings

Inclusive cross section of neutral kaons indicates in-medium modification.

Momentum-dependent cross section ratios are sensitive to in-medium potential.

Ongoing experiments aim to study charged kaons and search for antikaon clusters.

Abstract

The production of mesons containing strangeness is studied using elementary and heavy-ion probes with the FOPI detector at GSI-SIS. The observed inclusive cross section of neutral kaons points to an in-medium modification in the production. The momentum dependent ratio of cross sections of light and heavy target nuclei turns out to be a sensitive observable for the in-medium potential strength in transport codes. The experiments will continue studying the production of charged kaons with elementary probes including the search for deeply bound antikaon nuclear clusters in proton proton collisions.