Antihyperon potentials in nuclei via exclusive antiproton-nucleus reactions at FAIR

TL;DR

This paper investigates antihyperon potentials in nuclei through exclusive antiproton-nucleus reactions near threshold, using a microscopic transport model to analyze their behavior and potential depth sensitivity, relevant for future FAIR experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel microscopic transport model analysis of antihyperon potentials in nuclei, highlighting the sensitivity of momentum correlations to the potential depth.

Findings

Transverse momentum correlations are sensitive to antihyperon potential depth.

The model accounts for absorption, rescattering, and Fermi motion effects.

Results are highly relevant for upcoming experiments at FAIR.

Abstract

The exclusive production of hyperon-antihyperon pairs close to their production threshold in antiproton - nucleus collisions offers a unique and hitherto unexplored opportunity to elucidate the behaviour of antihyperons in nuclei. For the first time we analyse these reactions in a microscopic transport model using the the Gie\ss en Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model. The calculation take the delicate interplay between the strong absorption of antihyperons, their rescattering and refraction at the nuclear surface as well as the Fermi motion of the struck nucleon into account. We find a substantial sensitivity of transverse momentum correlations of coincident $\Lambda\overline{\Lambda}$-pairs to the assumed depth of the $\overline{\Lambda}$-potential. Because of the high cross section for this process and the simplicity of the experimental method our results are highly relevant for future activities at the international Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR).