Momentum dependence of near-threshold photoproduction of $\Xi^-$ hyperons off nuclei and their properties in the nuclear medium

TL;DR

This paper models near-threshold photoproduction of $ ext{Xi}^-$ hyperons off nuclei, analyzing their momentum distributions and nuclear medium properties to inform future experiments at CEBAF.

Contribution

It introduces a first-collision model incorporating nuclear potentials and absorption effects to study $ ext{Xi}^-$ production and in-medium properties in photonuclear reactions.

Findings

$ ext{Xi}^-$ momentum distributions are sensitive to the nuclear mean-field potential.

The model predicts differential cross sections and ratios at specific photon energies.

Measurements can provide insights into $ ext{Xi}^-$ in-medium properties.

Abstract

We study the near-threshold inclusive photoproduction of $\Xi^-$ hyperons off $^{12}$C and $^{184}$W target nuclei within a first-collision model relying on the nuclear spectral function and including incoherent $\Xi^-$ production in direct elementary ${\gamma}p \to K^+{K^+}\Xi^-$ and ${\gamma}n \to K^+{K^0}\Xi^-$ processes. The model takes into account the impact of the nuclear effective scalar $K^+$, $K^0$, $\Xi^-$ and their Coulomb potentials on these processes as well as the absorption of final $\Xi^-$ hyperons in nuclear matter, the binding of intranuclear nucleons and their Fermi motion. We calculate the absolute differential cross sections and their ratios for the production of $\Xi^-$ hyperons off these nuclei at laboratory polar angles $\le$ 45$^{\circ}$ by photons with energies of 2.5 and 3.0 GeV, with and without imposing the phase space constraints on the $\Xi^-$ emission angle in the respective ${\gamma}p$ center-of-mass system. We also calculate the momentum dependence of the transparency ratio for $\Xi^-$ hyperons for the $^{184}$W/$^{12}$C combination at these photon energies. We show that the $\Xi^-$ momentum distributions (absolute and relative) at the adopted initial photon energies possess, contrary to the transparency ratio for $\Xi^-$ hyperons, a definite sensitivity to the considered changes in the scalar $\Xi^-$ nuclear mean-field potential at saturation density $\rho_0$ in the low-momentum range of 0.1--0.8 GeV/c. Therefore, the precise measurements of these distributions in a dedicated experiment at the CEBAF facility will provide valuable information on the $\Xi^-$ in-medium properties, which will be supplementary to that inferred from studying of the ($K^-$,$K^+$) reactions at initial momenta of 1.6--1.8 GeV/c.