Antinucleon-nucleus interaction near threshold from the Paris $\bar NN$ potential

TL;DR

This paper develops a method to analyze antiproton interactions with nuclei near threshold energies using the Paris $ar NN$ potential, providing insights into the energy and density dependence of hadron-nucleon amplitudes.

Contribution

It introduces a consistent algorithm for handling energy-dependent hadron-nucleon amplitudes in nuclear medium, applied specifically to antiprotons and antineutrons using the Paris potential.

Findings

Good agreement with experimental antiprotonic atom data

Significant role of P-wave amplitudes in interactions

Insights into the density dependence of scattering amplitudes

Abstract

A general algorithm for handling the energy dependence of hadron-nucleon amplitudes in the nuclear medium, consistently with their density dependence, has been recently applied to antikaons, eta mesons and pions interacting with nuclei. Here we apply this approach to antiprotons below threshold, analyzing experimental results for antiprotonic atoms across the periodic table. It is also applied to antiproton and antineutron interaction with nuclei up to 400 MeV/c, comparing with elastic scattering and annihilation cross sections. The underlying $\bar pN$ scattering amplitudes are derived from the Paris $\bar NN$ potential, including modifications in the medium. Emphasis is placed on the role of the $P$-wave amplitudes with respect to the repulsive $S$-wave amplitudes.