Interaction of antiproton with nuclei

TL;DR

This study uses a relativistic mean-field model to investigate antiproton-nucleus bound states, revealing significant polarization effects and a reduced but still substantial antiproton width within nuclei, consistent with experimental data.

Contribution

It provides a self-consistent RMF calculation of antiproton-nucleus states with adjusted couplings and incorporates absorption effects, advancing understanding of antiproton interactions in nuclear matter.

Findings

Large polarization effects of the nuclear core due to antiproton presence

Reduced antiproton width in medium, yet remains significant

Potential consistent with antiproton-atom data

Abstract

We performed fully self-consistent calculations of $\bar{p}$-nuclear bound states within the relativistic mean-field (RMF) model. The G-parity motivated $\bar{p}$-meson coupling constants were adjusted to yield potentials consistent with $\bar{p}$-atom data. We confirmed large polarization effects of the nuclear core caused by the presence of the antiproton. The $\bar{p}$ absorption in the nucleus was incorporated by means of the imaginary part of a phenomenological optical potential. The phase space reduction for the $\bar{p}$ annihilation products was taken into account. The corresponding $\bar{p}$ width in the medium significantly decreases, however, it still remains considerable for the $\bar{p}$ potential consistent with experimental data.