Eur. Phys. J. A (2007) 31: 255-262
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2006-10187-4

Regular Article - Hadron Physics

Kaon absorption from kaonic atoms and formation spectra of kaonic nuclei

Department of Physics, Nara Women's University, 630-8506, Nara, Japan

^* e-mail: aaj.yamagata@cc.nara-wu.ac.jp

Received: 25 November 2006
Accepted: 5 January 2007
Published online: 8 February 2007

Abstract

We considered the kaon absorption from atomic states into the nucleus. We found that the nuclear density probed by the atomic kaon significantly depends on the kaon orbit. Then, we re-examined the meanings of the observed strengths of one-body and two-body kaon absorption, and investigated the effects to the formation spectra of kaon bound states by in-flight (K ^-, p) reactions. As a natural consequence, if the atomic kaon probes a smaller nuclear density, the ratio of the two-body absorption at nuclear center is larger than the observed value in kaonic atoms, and the depth of the imaginary potential is deeper even at smaller kaon energies as in kaonic nuclear states because of the large phase space for the two-body processes. This deeper imaginary potential makes the signals of kaonic nucleus formation more unclear in the (K ^-, p) spectra.