On the widths and binding energies of $K^-$ nuclear states and the role of $K^-$ multi-nucleon interactions

TL;DR

This paper presents self-consistent calculations of $K^-$ nuclear quasi-bound states, highlighting the significant impact of multi-nucleon interactions on their widths, which likely prevents their experimental observation.

Contribution

It introduces a phenomenological multi-nucleon interaction term to chirally motivated models, improving the understanding of $K^-$ state widths in nuclei.

Findings

Multi-nucleon absorption significantly increases state widths.

Large widths likely prevent experimental observation of $K^-$ nuclear states.

Inclusion of multi-nucleon interactions is crucial for accurate modeling.

Abstract

We report on our recent self-consistent calculations of $K^-$ nuclear quasi-bound states using $K^-$ optical potentials derived from chirally motivated meson-baryon coupled channels models [1,2]. The $K^-$ single-nucleon potentials were supplemented by a phenomenological $K^-$ multi-nucleon interaction term introduced to achieve good fits to $K^-$ atom data. We demonstrate a substantial impact of the $K^-$ multi-nucleon absorption on the widths of $K^-$ nuclear states. If such states ever exist in nuclear many-body systems, their widths are excessively large to allow observation.