Structure of eta' mesonic nuclei in a relativistic mean field theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the structure and energy spectrum of eta' mesonic nuclei using relativistic mean field theory, revealing bound states and nuclear structure modifications due to eta' attraction in finite nuclei.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent relativistic mean field model to analyze eta' mesonic nuclei and predicts bound states and nuclear structure changes.

Findings

Several eta' bound states found in nuclei

Significant nuclear structure modifications observed

Potential suppression of 1s eta' state production

Abstract

The structure and the energy spectrum of the $\eta^{\prime}$ mesonic nuclei are investigated in a relativistic mean field theory. One expects a substantial attraction for the $\eta^{\prime}$ meson in finite nuclei due to the partial restoration of chiral symmetry in the nuclear medium. Such a hadronic scale interaction for the $\eta^{\prime}$ mesonic nuclei may provide modification of the nuclear structure. The relativistic mean field theory is a self-contained model for finite nuclei which provides the saturation property within the model, and is good to investigate the structure change of the nucleus induced by the $\eta^{\prime}$ meson. Using the local density approximation for the mean fields, we solve the equations of motion for the nucleons and the $\eta^{\prime}$ meson self-consistently, and obtain the nuclear density distribution and the $\eta^{\prime}$ energy spectrum for the $\eta^{\prime}$ mesonic nuclei. We take $^{12}$C, $^{16}$O and $^{40}$Ca for the target nuclei. We find several bound states of the $\eta^{\prime}$ meson for these nuclei thanks to the attraction for $\eta^{\prime}$ in nuclei. We also find a sufficient change of the nuclear structure especially for the $1s$ bound state of $\eta^{\prime}$. This implies that the production of the $1s$ bound state in nuclear reaction may be suppressed.