The complexity of threshold phenomena is exemplified on a prominent and long-known case - the structure in the $Lambda p$ cross section (invariant mass spectrum) at the opening of the $Sigma N$ channel. The mass splitting between the $Sigma$ baryons together with the angular momentum coupling in the $^3S_1$-$^3D_1$ partial wave imply that, in principle, up to six channels are involved. Utilizing hyperon-nucleon potentials that provide an excellent description of the available low-energy $Lambda p$ and $Sigma N$ scattering data, the shape of the resulting $Lambda p$ cross section is discussed and the poles near the $Sigma N$ threshold are determined. Evidence for a strangeness $S=-1$ dibaryon is provided, in the form of a deuteron-like (unstable) $Sigma N$ bound state. Predictions for level shifts and widths of $Sigma^-p$ atomic states are given.
Song et al. [Phys. Rev. C 102, 065208 (2020)] presented results for the $Lambda_c N$ interaction based on an extrapolation of lattice simulations by the HAL QCD Collaboration at unphysical quark masses to the physical point via covariant chiral effective field theory. We point out that their predictions for the $^3D_1$ partial wave disagree with available lattice results. We discuss the origin of that disagreement and present a comparison with predictions from conventional (non-relativistic) chiral effective field theory.
We study the prospects for deducing constraints on the interaction of charmed baryons with nucleons from measurements of two-particle momentum correlation functions for $Lambda_c p$. The correlation functions are calculated for $Lambda_c N$ and $Sigma_c N$ interactions that have been extrapolated from lattice QCD simulations at unphysical masses of $m_pi=410-570$ MeV to the physical point using chiral effective field theory as guideline. In addition, we consider phenomenological $Y_c N$ models from the literature to explore the sensitivity of the results to the properties of the interaction in detail. We find that a measurement of the $Lambda_c p$ correlation functions could indeed allow one to discriminate between strongly attractive $Lambda_c N$ forces, as predicted by some phenomenological models, and a weakly attractive interaction as suggested by the presently available lattice simulations.
The $Lambda N$ and $Sigma N$ interactions are considered at next-to-leading order in SU(3) chiral effective field theory. Different options for the low-energy constants that determine the strength of the contact interactions are explored. Two variants are analysed in detail which yield equivalent results for $Lambda N$ and $Sigma N$ scattering observables but differ in the strength of the $Lambda N to Sigma N$ transition potential. The influence of this difference on predictions for light hypernuclei and on the properties of the $Lambda$ and $Sigma$ hyperons in nuclear matter is investigated and discussed. The effect of the variation in the potential strength of the $Lambda N$-$Sigma N$ coupling (also called $Lambda -Sigma$ conversion) is found to be moderate for the considered $^3_Lambda rm H$ and $^4_Lambda rm He$ hypernuclei but sizable in case of the matter properties. Further, the size of three-body forces and their relation to different approaches to hypernuclear interactions is discussed.
A qualitative discussion on the range of the potentials as they result from the phenomenological meson-exchange picture and from lattice simulations by the HAL QCD Collaboration is presented. For the former pion- and/or $eta$-meson exchange are considered together with the scalar-isoscalar component of correlated $pipi /K bar K$ exchange. It is observed that the intuitive expectation for the behavior of the baryon-baryon potentials for large separations, associated with the exchange of one and/or two pions, does not always match with the potentials extracted from the lattice simulations. Only in cases where pion exchange provides the longest ranged contribution, like in the $Xi N$ system, a reasonable qualitative agreement between the phenomenological and the lattice QCD potentials is found for baryon-baryon separations of $r gtrsim 1$ fm. For the $Omega N$ and $OmegaOmega$ interactions where isospin conservation rules out one-pion exchange a large mismatch is observed, with the potentials by the HAL QCD Collaboration being much longer ranged and much stronger at large distances as compared to the phenomenological expectation. This casts some doubts on the applicability of using these potentials in few- or many-body systems.
We study the manifestation of the $Delta^{++}-Delta^-$ component of the deuteron wave function in the exclusive reaction $bar p d to pi^- pi^- Delta^{++}$. Due to the large binding energy the internal motion in the $Delta-Delta$ system is relativistic. We take this into account within the light-cone (LC) wave function formalism and, indeed, found large differences between calculations based on the LC and non-relativistic (NR) wave functions. We demonstrate, that the consistent LC treatment of the $Delta-Delta$ system plays the key role in the separation of the signal and background. Within the LC approach, the characteristic shape of the momentum distribution of the $Delta-Delta$ bound system predicted by the meson-exchange model is well visible on the background of usual annihilations at beam momenta between 10 and 15 GeV/c.
The validity of SU(4)-flavor symmetry relations of couplings of charmed $D$ mesons to light mesons and baryons is examined with the use of $^3{rm P}_0$ quark-pair creation model and nonrelativistic quark model wave functions. We focus on the three-meson couplings $pipirho$, $KKrho$ and $DDrho$ and baryon-baryon-meson couplings $NNpi$, $NLambda K$ and $NLambda_c D$. It is found that SU(4)-flavor symmetry is broken at the level of 30% in the $DDrho$ tree-meson couplings and 20% in the baryon-baryon-meson couplings. Consequences of these findings for DN cross sections and existence of bound states D-mesons in nuclei are discussed.
Mechanisms of the charge exchange reaction $dpto {pp}_{!s} Npi$, where ${pp}_{!s}$ is a two-proton system at low excitation energy, are studied at beam energies 1 -- 2 GeV and for invariant masses $M_X$ of the final $Npi $ system that correspond to the formation of the $Delta(1232)$ isobar. The direct mechanism, where the initial proton is excited into the $Delta(1232)$, dominates and explains the existing data on the unpolarized differential cross section and spherical tensor analyzing power $T_{22}$ for $M_X> 1.2$ GeV/$c^2$. However, this model fails to describe $T_{20}.
The $Lambda p$ interaction close to the $Sigma N$ threshold is considered. Specifically, the pronounced structure seen in production reactions like $K^-d to pi^- Lambda p$ and $ppto K^+ Lambda p$ around the $Sigma N$ threshold is analyzed. Modern interaction models of the coupled $Lambda N - Sigma N$ systems generate such a structure either due to the presence of a (deuteron-like) unstable bound state or of an inelastic virtual state. % A determination of the position of the prominent peak as observed in various experiments for the two aforementioned reactions leads to values that agree quite well with each other. Furthermore, the deduced mean value of $2128.7pm 0.3$ MeV for the peak position coincides practically with the threshold energy of the $Sigma^+ n$ channel. This supports the interpretation of the structure as a genuine cusp, signaling an inelastic virtual state in the $^3S_1-^3D_1$ partial wave of the $Sigma N$ isospin 1/2 channel. % There is also evidence for a second peak (or shoulder) in the data sets considered which appears at roughly 10-15 MeV above the $Sigma N$ threshold. However, its concrete position varies significantly from data set to data set and, thus, a theoretical interpretation is difficult.
Antiproton scattering off $^3He$ and $^4He$ targets is considered at beam energies below 300 MeV within the Glauber-Sitenko approach, utilizing the $bar N N$ amplitudes of the Julich model as input. A good agreement with available data on differential $bar p ^4He$ cross sections and on $bar p ^3He$ and $pbar ^4He$ reaction cross sections is obtained. Predictions for polarized total $bar p ^3$He cross sections are presented, calculated within the single-scattering approximation and including Coulomb-nuclear interference effects. The kinetics of the polarization buildup is discussed.
