Nuclear effects on the $\rho$ meson produced in the inclusive photonuclear reaction

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the properties of the $ ho$ meson are altered when produced in photonuclear reactions within nuclei, by analyzing decay spectra and comparing with experimental data.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of the in-medium modifications of the $ ho$ meson properties in photonuclear reactions, validated against Jefferson Laboratory data.

Findings

Modified $ ho$ meson mass and width in nuclear medium

Agreement with experimental invariant mass spectra

Insights into meson-nucleus interactions

Abstract

The hadronic properties of the $\rho$ meson produced in the inclusive photonuclear reaction have been investigated. The elementary reaction occurring in the nucleus is assumed as $\gamma N \to \rho^0 N$. The $\rho$ meson, while propagating through the nucleus, interacts with the nuclear particles, and therefore, the properties of the $\rho$ meson can be modified because of this interaction. Being a short-lived particle, the $\rho$ meson decays to various elementary particles, such as, $e^+e^-$, $\pi^+\pi^-$, .... etc. The $e^+e^-$ invariant mass, i.e., the $\rho$ meson mass, distribution spectra have been calculated to extract the information about the parameters, viz., mass and width, of the $\rho$ meson in the nucleus. The calculated results have been compared with the data reported from Jefferson Laboratory.