Experimental Review of Baryons in the Nuclear Medium

Inclusive studies of nuclear photoabsorption have provided clear evidence of medium modifications but the results have not yet been explained in a model independent way. A deeper understanding of the situation is anticipated from a detailed experimental study of meson photoproduction from nuclei in exclusive reactions. Recent results on meson production in photonuclear experiments indicate a large difference between quasifree meson production from the nuclear surface and non-quasifree components.Comment: Proceedings Baryons200

Subthreshold phi-meson production in heavy-ion collisions

Within a transport code of BUU type the production of phi-mesons in the reactions Ni+Ni at 1.93 AGeV and Ru+Ru at 1.69 AGeV is studied. New elementary reaction channels rho+N(Delta) to phi+N and pi+N(1520) to phi+N are included. In spite of a substantial increase of the \phi multiplicities by these channels the results stay below the tentative numbers extracted from experimental data.Comment: 17 pages(LaTeX), two new figures adde

Double pion photoproduction on nucleon and deuteron

Photoproduction of two pions on nucleon and deuteron is studied for photon energies from threshold up to $E_\gamma = 1.5$ GeV. For the elementary operator an effective Lagrangean approach is used with resonance and Born contributions. The model parameters are fixed by resonance decay widths and multipole analyses of single pion photoproduction. A satisfactory description of total cross sections of two-pion production on the proton for various charge channels is achieved, except for $\pi^0\pi^0$ production for which a significant underestimation is found near threshold. The operator then serves for the evaluation of this reaction on the deuteron in the impulse approximation. In addition, $NN$ rescattering in the final state is taken into account, but $\pi N$ and $\pi\pi$ rescatterings are neglected. Results are presented for total cross sections and target asymmetries.Comment: 28 pages revtex including 12 ps-figure

π\piNN coupling and two-pion photoproduction on the nucleon

Effects of non-resonant photoproductions arising from two different $\pi NN$ couplings are investigated in the $\gamma N\to\pi\pi N$ reaction. We find that the pseudoscalar (PS) $\pi NN$ coupling is generally preferable to the pseudovector (PV) $\pi NN$ coupling and particularly the total cross sections are successfully described by the model with the PS $\pi NN$ coupling. In order to see the difference between the two couplings, we also show the results of invariant mass spectra and helicity-dependent cross sections in various isospin channels calculated with the PS and PV couplings.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures, minor changes and version to be published in Phys.Rev.

Surface and volume effects in the photoabsorption of nuclei

Recent experimental results for meson photoproduction from nuclei obtained with TAPS at MAMI are analyzed in view of the suppression of the second nucleon resonance region in total photoabsorption. The cross sections can be split into a component from the low density surface region of nuclei and a component which scales more like the nuclear volume. The energy dependence of the surface component is similar to the deuteron cross section, it shows a clear signal for the second resonance peak assigned to the excitation of the P11(1440), D13(1520), and S11(1535). The volume component behaves differently, it is lacking the second resonance peak and shows an enhancement at intermediate photon energies.Comment: accepted for publication in Eur. J. Phys.

Hadrons in Nuclei: Experiments and Perspectives

The question of the origin of hadron masses is one major issue in the understanding of the strong interaction. The challenge is addressed by searching for indications of in-medium modifications of hadron properties and studying hadrons in nuclei. The quest driving in-medium studies is to understand the origin of hadron masses in the context of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. The experimental status of the modification of hadron properties in the nuclear medium is discussed including experiments using hadron, heavy-ion, and photon beams. Particular emphasis is put on the production of light mesons from nuclei. A number of experimental programs is underway to provide a detailed comparison of properties of free hadrons and hadrons embedded in nuclei. The existing experimental efforts are discussed and possibilities are introduced for the new WASA-at-COSY facility, initially focussed on investigations of symmetries and symmetry breaking, to contribute to the field.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 23rd International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC 2007), Tokyo, Japan, 3-8 Jun 200

In-medium modifications of the ππ\pi\pi interaction in photon-induced reactions

Differential cross sections of the reactions $(\gamma,\pi^\circ\pi^\circ)$ and $(\gamma,\pi^\circ\pi^++\pi^\circ\pi^-)$ have been measured for several nuclei ($^1$H,$^{12}$C, and $^{\rm nat}$Pb) at an incident-photon energy of $E_{\gamma}$=400-460 MeV at the tagged-photon facility at MAMI-B using the TAPS spectrometer. A significant nuclear-mass dependence of the $\pi\pi$ invariant-mass distribution is found in the $\pi^\circ\pi^\circ$ channel. This dependence is not observed in the $\pi^\circ\pi^{+/-}$ channel and is consistent with an in-medium modification of the $\pi\pi$ interaction in the $I$=$J$=0 channel. The data are compared to $\pi$-induced measurements and to calculations within a chiral-unitary approach

Photoproduction of mesons from nuclei - In-medium properties of hadrons

Recent experimental results for the in-medium properties of hadrons obtained with photoproduction of mesons from nuclei are discussed. The experiments were done with the TAPS detector at the tagged photon beam of the MAMI accelerator in Mainz. Measured were the final states $\pi^o X$, $\eta X$, $2\pi^oX$, and $\pi^o\pi^{\pm}X$ for $^{12}$C, $^{40}$Ca, $^{93}$Nb, and $^{208}$Pb up to the second resonance region. The results were used for an investigation of the in-medium properties of the P$_{33}$(1232), the P$_{11}$(1440), the D$_{13}$(1520), and the S$_{11}$(1535) resonances. It was found that the cross sections can be spilt into a component which originates from the low density surface region of the nuclei and a component which scales like the nuclear volume. The energy dependence of the surface component is strikingly similar to the deuteron, it shows a clear signal for the second resonance peak. The volume component is lacking this peak and shows an enhancement at intermediate energies. Furthermore the measurement of coherent $\eta$-photoproduction and the final state $p\pi^o$ from $^3$He is discussed in the context of the search for $\eta$-mesic nuclei.Comment: Proceedings of International School of Nuclear Physics, 26th Course, Lepton Scattering and the Structure of Hadrons and Nuclei, Erice-Sicily, Italy 16. - 24. September 2004, to be published in Prog. Part. Nucl. Phy