Photoproduction of eta-mesic 3He

Search for η-mesic 3He in non-mesonic final state

The experiment on searching for η-mesic 3He nucleus was performed in May 2014 at COSY accelerator in Juelich by WASA-at-COSY Collaboration. The measurements were carried out using ramped beam technique which allows for the slow and continuous beam momentum change near the threshold of η meson creation. The luminosity was obtained based on pd → 3Heη reaction and quasielastic proton-proton scattering. The bound state of η-meson and 3He nucleus is searched for in pd → 3He2γ and pd → 3He6γ channels. The analysis is still in progress and the estimated upper limit value is on the level of few nanobarns.

Interaction of eta mesons with nuclei

Back in the mid-1980s, a new branch of investigation related to the interaction of eta mesons with nuclei came into existence. It started with the theoretical prediction of possible exotic states of eta mesons and nuclei bound by the strong interaction and later developed into an extensive experimental program to search for such unstable states as well as understand the underlying interaction via eta-meson producing reactions. The vast literature of experimental as well as theoretical works that studied various aspects of eta-producing reactions such as the π(+)n → ηp, pd → (3)Heη, p (6)Li → (7)Be η and γ (3)He → η X, to name a few, had but one objective in mind: to understand the eta-nucleon (ηN) and hence the η-nucleus interaction which could explain the production data and confirm the existence of some η-mesic nuclei. In spite of these efforts, there remain uncertainties in the knowledge of the ηN and hence the η-nucleus interaction. Therefore, this review is an attempt to bind together the findings in these works and draw some global and specific conclusions which can be useful for future explorations.The ηN scattering length (which represents the strength of the η-nucleon interaction) using different theoretical models and analyzing the data on η production in pion, photon and proton induced reactions was found to be spread out in a wide range, namely, 0.18 ≤ Re aηN ≤ 1.03 fm and 0.16 ≤ Rm aηN ≤ 0.49 fm. Theoretical searches of heavy η-mesic nuclei based on η-nucleus optical potentials and lighter ones based on Faddeev type few-body approaches predict the existence of several quasibound and resonant states. Although some hints of η-mesic states such as (3)(η)He and (25)(η)Mg do exist from previous experiments, the promise of clearer signals for the existence of η-mesic nuclei lies in the experiments to be performed at the J-PARC, MAMI and COSY facilities in the near future. This review is aimed at giving an overall status of these efforts.

Quasifree photoproduction of eta mesons off the neutron

Quasifree photoproduction of eta mesons off nucleons bound in the deuteron has been measured with the CBELSA/TAPS detector for incident photon energies up to 2.5 GeV at the Bonn ELSA accelerator. The eta mesons have been detected in coincidence with recoil protons and recoil neutrons, which allows a detailed comparison of the quasifree n(gamma,eta)n and p(gamma,eta)p reactions. The excitation function for eta production off the neutron shows a pronounced bumplike structure at W=1.68 GeV (E{gamma} approximately 1 GeV), which is absent for the proton.

Quantum reflection and dwell times of metastable states

The concept of phase and dwell times used in tunneling is extended to quantum collisions to derive a relation between the phase and dwell time delays in scattering. This relation can be used to remove the near threshold s-wave singularities in the Wigner-Eisenbud delay times and amounts to an extension of the concept of quantum reflection to strong interactions. Dwell time delay emerges as the quantity which gives the correct behavior of the density of states of a metastable state at all energies. This fact is demonstrated by investigating some recently found metastable states of mesic nuclei.

Precision study of the eta3He system using the dp--> 3Heeta reaction

The differential and total cross sections for the dp--> 3Heeta reaction have been measured in a high precision high statistics COSY-ANKE experiment near threshold using a continuous beam energy ramp up to an excess energy Q of 11.3 MeV with essentially 100% acceptance. The kinematics allowed the mean value of Q to be determined to about 9 keV. Evidence is found for the effects of higher partial waves for Q >or= 4 MeV. The very rapid rise of the total cross section to its maximum value within 0.5 MeV of threshold implies a very large eta3He scattering length and hence the presence of a quasibound state extremely close to threshold.