$Θ^+$ Hypernuclei

Abstract

We present results for the selfenergy of the $Θ^+$ pentaquark in nuclei associated with two sources: the $KN$ decay of the $Θ^+$ and the two meson baryon decay channels of the $Θ^+$ partners in an antidecuplet of baryons. The first source is shown to produce a small potential, unable to bind the $Θ^+$ in nuclei, while the second source gives rise to a large attractive potential. At the same time we show that the width of the $Θ^+$ in nuclei is small, such that, in light and medium nuclei, many bound $Θ^+$ states would appear with a separation between levels appreciably larger than the width of the states, thus creating an ideal scenario for pentaquark spectroscopy in nuclei.

16 pages, 8 figures