A modification of Glauber theory for diffraction dissociation of hadrons from nuclei

Abstract

The formulation of the Glauber theory for diffraction dissociation of hadrons from heavy nuclei is modified to take into account the fact that the dissociated system D can oscillate between many internal states as it propagates through nuclear matter. The set of internal states of D is approximated by a continuum and the successive D-nucleon collisions are represented by a scattering amplitude which is taken to be a smooth function of the internal parameters of D. This smoothness property is argued to result from the very short time between successive D-nucleon collisions; it is therefore an off-shell effect. The physical implications of the modified scheme are an increased transparency of nuclear matter and a A-dependent modification in the distribution of internal D states, mainly a narrowing of the mass distribution. These effects are demonstrated by the numerical treatment of a highly simplified example.