Coherent interactions of a fast proton with a short-range NNNN correlation in the nucleus

Nuclear structure at short $NN$-distances is still poorly understood. In particular, the full quantum structure of the nucleus with a correlated $NN$-pair is a challenge to theory. So far, model descriptions have been limited to the average mean-field picture of the remaining nuclear system after removing the $NN$-pair. In the recent experiment of the BM@N Collaboration at JINR \cite{Patsyuk:2021fju}, the reactions ^{12}\mbox{C}(p,2pn_s)^{10}\mbox{B} and ^{12}\mbox{C}(p,2pp_s)^{10}\mbox{Be} induced by the hard elastic $pp$ scattering were studied. Here, $n_s$ or $p_s$ denote the undetected slow nucleon in the rest frame of ^{12}\mbox{C}. In contrast to the previous experiments, the residual bound nucleus was also detected which requires a new level of theoretical understanding. In the present work, we apply the technique of fractional parentage coefficients of the translationally-invariant shell model (TISM) to calculate the spectroscopic amplitude of the system $NN-B$ where $B$ is the remaining nuclear system. The spectroscopic amplitude enters the full amplitude of a nuclear reaction. The relative $NN-B$ wave function is no longer a free parameter of the model but is uniquely related to the internal state of $B$. The interaction of the target proton with the $NN$-pair is considered in the impulse approximation. We also include the initial- and final state interactions of absorptive type as well as the single charge exchange processes. Our calculations are in a reasonable agreement with the BM@N data.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, 4 table

Possibility of cold nuclear compression in antiproton-nucleus collisions

We study the dynamical response of the oxygen-16 nucleus to an incident antiproton using the Giessen Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck microscopic transport model with relativistic mean fields. A special emphasis is put on the possibility of a dynamical compression of the nucleus induced by the moving antiproton. Realistic antibaryon coupling constants to the mean meson fields are chosen in accordance with empirical data. Our calculations show that an antiproton embedded in the nuclear interior with momentum less than the nucleon Fermi momentum may create a locally compressed zone in the nucleus with a maximum density of about twice the nuclear saturation density. To evaluate the probability of the nuclear compression in high-energy antiproton-nucleus collisions, we adopt a two-stage scheme. This scheme takes into account the antiproton deceleration due to the cascade of antiproton-nucleon rescatterings inside the nucleus (first stage) as well as the nuclear compression by the slow antiproton before its annihilation (second stage). With our standard model parameters, the fraction of antiproton annihilation events in the compressed zone is about $10^{-5}$ for $\bar p ^{16}$O collisions at $p_{\rm lab}=3-10$ GeV/c. Finally, possible experimental triggers aimed at selecting such events are discussed.Comment: 40 pages, 15 figures, new Sect. V on the in-medium modifications of annihilation, modified conclusions, added references, version accepted in Phys. Rev.