Antibaryon-nucleus bound states

TL;DR

This paper investigates antibaryon-nucleus bound states using a relativistic mean-field model, revealing significant nuclear polarization and providing insights into antibaryon interactions and annihilation within nuclei.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive calculation of antibaryon bound states in nuclei with complex potentials, incorporating polarization effects and annihilation dynamics.

Findings

Antibaryon bound states cause large nuclear polarization.

Antiproton widths decrease with phase space reduction but remain sizeable.

Results are consistent with experimental data on antiproton atoms.

Abstract

We calculated antibaryon ($\bar{B}$ = $\bar{p}$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $\bar{\Sigma}$, $\bar{\Xi}$) bound states in selected nuclei within the relativistic mean-field (RMF) model. The G-parity motivated $\bar{B}$-meson coupling constants were scaled to yield corresponding potentials consistent with available experimental data. Large polarization of the nuclear core caused by $\bar{B}$ was confirmed. The $\bar{p}$ annihilation in the nuclear medium was incorporated by including a phenomenological imaginary part of the optical potential. The calculations using a complex $\bar{p}$-nucleus potential were performed fully self-consistently. The $\bar{p}$ widths significantly decrease when the phase space reduction is considered for $\bar{p}$ annihilation products, but they still remain sizeable for potentials consistent with $\bar{p}$-atom data.