Antinucleon-nucleus elastic and inelastic scattering

Abstract

A general overview of the utility of antinucleon (anti N)-nucleus inelastic scattering studies is presented, emphasizing both the sensitivity of the cross sections to various components of the N anti N transition amplitudes and the prospects for the exploration of some novel aspects of nuclear structure. We start with an examination of the relation between NN and N anti N potentials, focusing on the coherences predicted for the central, spin-orbit and tensor components, and how these may be revealed by measurements of two-body spin observables. We next discuss the role of the nucleus as a spin and isospin filter, and show how, by a judicious choice of final state quantum numbers (natural or unnatural parity states, isospin transfer ..delta..T = 0 or 1) and momentum transfer q, one can isolate different components of the N anti N transition amplitude. Various models for the N anti N interaction which give reasonable fits to the available two-body data are shown to lead to strikingly different predictions for certain spin-flip nuclear transitions. We suggest several possible directions for future anti N-nucleus inelastic scattering experiments, for instance the study of spin observables which would be accessible with polarized anti N beams, charge exchange reactions, and higher resolution studies of the (anti p, anti p') reaction. We compare the antinucleon and the nucleon as a probe of nuclear modes of excitation. 40 refs., 13 figs.