$ϕ$ meson mass and decay width in nuclear matter and nuclei

Abstract

The mass and decay width of the $ϕ$ meson in cold nuclear matter are computed in an effective Lagrangian approach. The medium dependence of these properties are obtained by evaluating kaon-antikaon loop contributions to the $ϕ$ self-energy, employing the medium-modified kaon masses, calculated using the quark-meson coupling model. The loop integral is regularized with a dipole form factor, and the sensitivity of the results to the choice of cutoff mass in the form factor is investigated. At normal nuclear matter density we find a downward shift of the $ϕ$ mass by a few percent, while the decay width is enhanced by an order of magnitude. For a large variation of the cutoff mass parameter, the results for the $ϕ$ mass and the decay width turn out to vary very little. Our results support results in the literature which suggest that one should observe a small downward mass shift and a large broadening of the decay width. In order to explore the possibility of studying the binding and absorption of $ϕ$ mesons in nuclei, we also present the single-particle binding energies and half-widths of $ϕ$-nucleus bound states for some selected nuclei.

To appear in Physics Letters B; 8 pages, 4 figures