Studies of mesic atoms and nuclei

Abstract: $K^-$ mesons offer a unique setting where mesic atoms have been studied both experimentally and theoretically, thereby placing constraints on the possible existence and properties of meson-nuclear quasibound states. Here we review progress in this field made recently by the Jerusalem--Prague Collaboration using near-threshold $K^-N$ scattering amplitudes generated in several meson--baryon coupled channels models inspired by a chiral EFT approach. Our own procedure of handling subthreshold kinematics self consistently is used to transform these free-space energy dependent amplitudes to in-medium density dependent amplitudes from which $K^-$ optical potentials are derived. To fit the world data of kaonic atoms, these single-nucleon optical potentials are augmented by multi-nucleon terms. It is found that only two of the studied models reproduce also the single-nucleon absorption fractions available from old bubble chamber experiments. These two models are then checked for possible $K^-$ nuclear quasibound states, despite realizing that $K^-$ optical potentials are not constrained by kaonic atom data at densities exceeding half nuclear-matter density. We find that when such states exist, their widths are invariably above 100 MeV, forbiddingly large to allow observation. Multi-nucleon absorption is found to be substantial in this respect. This suggests that observable strongly bound $K^-$ mesons are limited to the very light systems, such as $K^-pp$.